


Friendship Well Baked

by StarryFiction



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Angst, Family Fluff, Fire Spirit with Autism, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Herb and Spinach are siblings, Hurt/Comfort, More Chapters to Be Added, Peach has ADHD, Peach is Leek’s daughter, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Widowed, Young Birthday Cake, Young Dino-Sour, no beta we die like men, yeah uh cookie run x mlp go brbrbrbr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 42,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27757675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryFiction/pseuds/StarryFiction
Summary: Written as a gift for my dearest children with the characters who represent myself and them, I present:A crossover fanfic between My Little Pony and Cookie Run, Friendship Well Baked, featuring Peach Cookie and friends (and father) learning how powerful friendship really is.
Relationships: Birthday Cake Cookie & Snow Sugar Cookie (Cookie Run), Cheesecake Cookie/Sparkling Cookie (Cookie Run), Dino-Sour Cookie & Birthday Cake Cookie (Cookie Run), Herb Cookie & Spinach Cookie (Cookie Run), Leek Cookie & Peach Cookie (Cookie Run), Leek Cookie/General Jujube Cookie (Mentioned), Snow Sugar Cookie & Birthday Cake Cookie & Dino-Sour Cookie (Cookie Run), Snow Sugar Cookie & Dino-Sour Cookie (Cookie Run)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Friendship Well Baked - Chapter 1 Part 1

“It all started when I’d gone somewhere new from my trip. I’d left my hometown to study how I could become stronger, with the use of magic. I studied so long, almost all on my own, with only the Millennial Tree having offered to be my teacher. My bamboo staff, once my weapon, now contains potent magic.   
I’d learnt all I could learn in the City Of The Millennial Tree, and now he wants me to go to the Happy Healthy Hamlet..?  
Many cookies live in this diverse town, and I suppose I'm going to join them. I don’t think I have family there or anything, so… Let’s go.” 

Peach put her pen down, satisfied with what she’d wrote. She tried to lower her enthusiasm, but really… She was ecstatic! Off to a new home, to learn many new things about magic and the world around her. And… she’d guess make new friends too. 

“Bonbon, we’re leaving!” She happily exclaimed to her pet panda, who was resting quaintly. “...Not even awake, huh?” A quiet mutter, slipping her journal and pen into her bag. She stepped over and gently picked up the panda, cradling him in her arm. “That’s okay… we’ll get settled at our new home.” 

Out of her little study she left, luggage behind her, which she made move with magic from the staff she held in her unfilled hand. Peach walked down the hill’s path, looking around at the bottom. There was supposed to be a stagecoach sent by Millennial Tree coming to pick her up…  
She waved at it as she saw it get closer, not yelling as to keep the sleeping panda asleep. She stepped in and took a seat behind the driver, an unknown cookie, who soon whipped the horses to go off and run. The ride was rough, so Peach tried to keep her arms as stable as possible. 

Excitement almost radiated from her as she soon saw her new home fading into view…

~~~~~~

Peach hopped off the stagecoach and heard it run off to pick up others. Bonbon remained asleep in her arms, which saved her a lot of trouble. She stopped at the edge of the hamlet, looking at the town map, studying it.

It was a small place, simple enough…   
There was a library and dojo in the corner of town that she was to stay at, and a few other places too. A party place that specializes in cakes and pies and also sword shows, a shop that doubled as an armory as well as a shop for most types of attire and a vegetable farm right outside the main town. There were a lot of woodlands surrounding town, and of course there was the city in the sky. 

“So much to see, but I need to focus on moving in.” Peach mumbled to herself, picking up a mini sized map of town for her own keeping. Her new home was right nearby, a short walk.

~~~~~~

She placed Bonbon in his small panda bed and tucked him in, allowing him to rest. Peach looked around her bedroom, upstairs to a larger room split between a training area on the right and a large library on the left. She sighed deeply at all the luggage she’d have to unpack, and put her staff on her back. ‘I don’t want to do this right now,’ She thought, ‘I need a little more energy…’   
Then, it hit her. The party place! It sold sugary pastries, right? She could get a cupcake or something, and then return right home to unpack. 

Peach rushed downstairs and out the door, checking her map. The bakery was at the other corner next to her, a little jog. With that in mind, and the taste of sugar in her mouth, she ran off.

~~~~~~

As she came close to the store, the smell of pastries hit the air. It smelled wondrous, and Peach saw wonderfully crispy baked pies in the windows. She shook her head, ‘No, no! You’re just here for a small treat.’ She reminded herself, opening the door.  
There was… nobody at the counter? Nor was there anyone inside, were they closed? Why wasn’t the door locked?

“Um, hello?” She called out, stopping at the counter. She glanced around and looked at the menu, quickly thinking of what to order if it was open…

“Cooooming!” A male voice called out from a door behind the counter. Peach almost could’ve sworn it was familiar, but she brushed it off, assuming it was an old friend of something. She didn’t know anyone who’d run a party place…

The door in front of her swung open, a man stepping out.  
And in a second, her heart started to race.   
She knew him.

“Papa!” She slammed her hands on the counter and yelled, excitement in her voice.   
Leek looked over at her from glancing back into the room behind him. He was… notably covered in silly string..? 

“Oh- Peach!” He exclaimed happily. In a moment, he jumped over part of the counter, running over to embrace his daughter. “That’s my little pumpkin! It’s been so long since you left for your studies of magic, I would’ve never expected to see you in the Happy Healthy Hamlet! I’ve missed you!” 

“I’ve missed you too, papa?” She said with confusion. When she’d left her family far away, her father wasn’t so… enthusiastic? He wasn’t stern but he was calm mostly. Not as… energetic? As he was now, apparently. It was foreign to her. “What happened to you?” 

Leek put her down and stepped away. “What are you talking about?” He looked thoughtful for a second, but didn’t give her a chance to reply. “Oh, is it the silly string? Yeah, I got into a battle! A silly one!” 

“No, I’m… talking about this. I would’ve never expected you to act like this, even less run a party place.” She didn’t hesitate to lay it straight, something she’d been doing lately. 

“Oh, this.” He looked away, gazing out the window. The people of town were as happy as ever, skipping around, having fun. “Not long after you’d left to pursue magic, Plum left too. Your father and I wanted to find somewhere new, to get away from the mountains. So, I came here.” Leek smiled, turning back to his daughter. “This town taught me something. I didn’t always have to be so bland, so strict. I should express my joy.” He chuckled, crossing his arms. “I started using my love for swordwork to make others happy too. I haven’t stopped putting on shows for people, it makes me happy to see others happy.” He grinned. “Learning to bake was just a side effect of something else.” 

Something about it stunned Peach. She remembered clearly the news of her other father’s sudden death, and it became odd to her. The swordsman almost seemed to read her mind. “I keep smiling for the people, pumpkin. I keep smiling for him too.” 

“...Right.” The girl glanced away. “I just came here for a cupcake.” 

“Oh, of course!” Her father seemed to go back to his happy self, jumping the counter again. Leek picked up a yellow and orange frosted cupcake and handed it to his daughter, who took it. “It’s your first day here, right? Take it! It’s free, family bonus.” 

Peach smiled. “Thanks dad!” She turned around and sprinted off, waving at him. 

“Come visit me whenever you’d like, pumpkin!” 

~~~~~~

Peach unwrapped the cupcake, taking a moment to examine it. It was carefully frosted, small sugar beads reflecting the sunlight, the orange and yellow blending perfectly. It looked gorgeous, almost to the point where the woman was hesitant to eat it. “Ah- Huh?” She opened her mouth to take a bite, but…  
She was interrupted by a few… BUNNIES?   
They scurried past her in a rush, and Peach stepped forth and watched them. Was something chasing them? “How od- aaAH-!?” 

“Oh, oh goodness! I’m so sorry!” 

The frantic apology happened after Peach was knocked to the ground, someone else falling on top of her, who immediately got off. “Oh god, oh god, I’m so, so sorry…” She looked over and saw a boy with green, leafy hair, and a nervous expression. “I was just chasing the bunnies, and you got in my way. I’m sorry for running into you…” 

Peach got up and smiled at him, hoping for him to lighten up, but his expression remained the same. “It’s alright!” She looked behind her, the bunnies having stopped for a moment. “You’re chasing them, right?” The boy nodded. “I can help. I’ll use my magic-“ 

“Oh no, that won’t be necessary.” He cut her off. “I can catch them myself and then ask them to come home, it’s alright…” With that, he stepped forward. The bunnies looked shaken, but didn’t run off. 

The boy squatted and started to pat his knees, trying to get the bunnies to him. “Um, you know that only works with dogs-?” Peach was about to intrude, when…  
The bunnies started coming.

It took them moments to hop over, but when they did, the boy immediately picked them up and cradled them. “You’re all just scared little babies… I’ll take you back home…” He turned around and looked at Peach, who looked awestruck. 

“How… how did you do that?” She asked, impressed. 

“Oh, it was nothing…” He mumbled, looking away. “I just called them to me and calmed them down is all…” 

“But, you seemed to communicate with them so well…” Peach found it unbelievable. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m… Herb…” He mumbled quietly. Peach tilted her head, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he put all the baby bunnies in one arm, motioning his free hand around.

Peach was noticeably confused. “What are you..?” She went silent when a large flower popped up from the ground, around the same size as a bedside table. Herb placed the bunnies on the flower’s top, plucking it off of it’s stem and holding it that way, smiling down at the little animals. “Woah.” 

Herb looked at the girl again, the slight smile not leaving. “I need to return to the forest. Bye bye…” And with that, he trotted off. Peach watched him leave, before realizing her cupcake wasn’t in her hand anymore. 

“Where in the-?” She glanced around, before feeling something poke her behind her. She turned around and saw a pair of vines, holding her cupcake carefully. “Oh… thank you..?” She took it from the vines, which quickly retracted into the ground again.  
Did Herb do that for her..?

~~~~~~

Peach opened the door to her home and stepped to a table in the library, finally ready to enjoy her treat. Or at least she was, until a certain panda groggily came down the stairs. 

She smiled sweetly at him. “Good afternoon, Bonbon!” 

Bonbon yawned, but acknowledged her. It took him a couple seconds to come to his senses, but-  
“AFTERNOON-!?” He yelled, seemingly panicstricken. “I slept all day?!” 

Peach chuckled. “Yeah, you did. And I’m just here enjoying a delicious cupcake!” She said, FINALLY taking her first bite of the sweet pastry.

“That’s odd,” Bonbon started, “I would’ve thought it was night from how dark it is outside.” That stopped Peach yet again. 

“It’s not dark outside..?” She questioned, looking out the window. “Huh-!?” 

Outside, it was dark and stormy. But, it was just light a few minutes ago? And she still saw people outside, what was going on?  
Peach grabbed her staff and went to go find out, placing her cupcake on the table. She walked out the door to immediate rain on her, wetting her bangs onto her face, getting a groan. Sure enough, the rest of town was well lit and sunny. 

“Whoopsies! Looks like I forgot one!” A sudden call made her try to look up, but of course, have her vision be obscured by the clouds.   
And before she knew it,  
Something magical happened. 

It only took a matter of seconds, but it was still a spectacle. The clouds above her disappeared as a figure flew through them in the blink of an eye. The same flying figure flew a distance away before slamming into the ground, every cloud they had grabbed evaporating into thin air in a large burst of red hot flames. 

“Woah!” Peach said with amazement, stepping out to see the person who’d just done it. The flames around them cleared up, and she was met with… another familiar face?  
But it wasn’t familiar like her father's face, no… it was familiar as though you’d seen it in a photo, or drawn perfectly in a tale.  
This man’s familiar face was one she’d seen in legend’s. Old scrolls telling the tales of the gods of that realm, who lived for centuries, and continue to live on. It wasn’t everyday you met a person who’s face you so clearly remember from such a tale.  
She was met with the face of a god, who was approaching her while she stared in awe. As he continued, it became only clearer. 

“Y-you, you’re…” She stuttered, not entirely sure what to say. “Y-you’re Fire Spirit..!” 

The god crossed his arms and floated up in front of her. “Yeah, I am. And what about it?” 

Peach shook herself out, taking a deep breath, before facing him directly. “There’s a god just- living here? In the Happy Healthy Hamlet?” 

Fire Spirit chuckled. “Uh- yeah? Duh?” He grinned, floating upside-down, his flames falling in his face. “I’m right here, and here to stay!” The god got upright again, looking away, a slightly awkward look on his face. “Soooorry about the storm clouds. Accidentally left them there.” 

That made something occur to Peach. Fire Spirit was the trickster god, wasn’t he? “Really? You just left raging, thundering clouds-“ She stepped to the side and motioned at her door. “Right outside my home?” 

“...Yes.” He got an unimpressed look, and he frowned. “Not finding it funny, huh?” 

“I’m all soaking wet because of you!” She yelled, unimpressed.

“Ah, quick fix!” He grinned. He created a small flame and swooshed his hand past her, letting the heat dry her hair…  
...but make it all poofy.  
“Pffft-! Seeya later!” Fire Spirit said, and before Peach could say anything, he bolted off the other way, becoming only a blur. 

Peach groaned. “Ugh… who knew a god could be such a bastard.” She turned around and slammed the door. At least her clothes were… mostly dry..?

She went back to the table, hearing Bonbon stifle a laugh. She gave the panda a glare and finally got to her cupcake, not bothering with her overly poofy hair. Biting into the cupcake, the wonderful flavor filled her mouth- the frosting tasted wondrous, with a slight strawberry flavor to it. The dough was filled with jam too, adding to the strawberry.  
It tasted like perfection. Her papa really had taught himself to bake…

Once she finished her cupcake, she looked out the window again. Clear skies as far as she could see, a wonderful view. Peach pulled out the map from her pocket, looking around it. “I still haven’t seen the armory or the vegetable farm. I should meet the people there.” She pushed away from the table, looking over at her friend. “Bonbon, are you joining me in meeting the town folk?” 

“...No thank you.” The response surprised Peach. Bonbon was usually very sociable.

“Huh? Why not?” 

“I don't want to be seen with someone who’s hair looks like that.” 

Oh. Right. Her hair.

~~~~~~

Peach let Bonbon ride on her shoulders as she carried him to the farm, both of them looking around.  
The place was quiet, but surrounded by rows of crops and trees. There were apple trees, and many different vegetables growing on the ground, like tomato plants and corn. Looking further, she could see an animal barn too. 

“Seems like your kinda place, huh Bonbon?” Peach teased the little guy, who she could feel cross his arms. Before he could say anything-

“YEEEEEEHAAAAAW!” 

A holler rang through the entire area. “What was that all about?” Bonbon asked, looking around for his answer.

“I think… her?” Peach pointed out, motioning towards the fields. There was a lady with long, green hair running down the vegetable crops, picking them faster than a person who could say ‘Peter piper picked a patch of pickled peppers’ really quickly could say it even once! “She’s going so fast! How is she doing that?” The martial artist exclaimed in shock.  
Once she was done with the rows of vegetables, the girl headed for the apple trees- with one strong kick, the apples fell into the baskets that were already set down. She continued this until every tree in a row was barren. 

“She’s doing it so quickly… and she’s got strength too!” The panda noted.

“It’s not often you find a person who can clear a field in thirty second-“

“Weeeell howdy do!” Before the two could even finish, the girl was now in front of them. “Names Spinach, welcome to the vegetable farm! You two are?” Spinach introduced herself, extending her hand out for a handshake.

Peach took her hand and shook it. “Peach! This is Bonbon.” The panda on her shoulders waved.

“I’ve never seen you two in the Happy Healthy Hamlet before, are you new?” Spinach asked, and they both nodded. “Great! Come here to the vegetable acres if you ever need fresh produce!” 

“Actually, I was going to ask- How are you so fast at harvesting? Are you using magic of some kind?” 

“Me? Magic!?” The farmer started to laugh loudly, confusing the other two. “Oh, could you imagine! Nah, I’m just a simple land cookie, no magic, no wings.”   
She grinned, sticking her arm out. “Here at the farm, all you need is efficiency and-“ She flexed her arm, showing muscle. “- Strength!” 

Peach seemed amazed. “Oh wow… that really is interesting, Spinach!” The aforementioned smiled. 

“You learn a lot living on the land!” The farmer glanced behind her. “I gotta get back to harvest, have a good day!” With that out of the way, Spinach sprinted off. 

“Huh… maybe you COULD go without magic for just a day, Peach!” Bonbon teased.

“Ha. Ha. No.” 

~~~~~~

“Only one last place to visit, the armory!”   
The panda called up to his friend while holding the map, pointing at the only place she hadn’t been to. Bonbon was now walking beside Peach, who’d put him down to stop him from being so lazy.

“Hm… I wonder who we’ll meet there. Likely one of the knights.” Peach looked thoughtfully away for a second, imagining a picture in her head. She’d read about the royal guard before, and wondered what someone like that would be doing in the Happy Healthy Hamlet instead of… well, protecting a royal. 

It didn’t take her long to find her answer when she strolled up to the entrance.   
“The Cookie Crumble Armory & Boutique.” Bonbon recited, reading the sign on the front of the building. 

“Boutique, huh? Maybe I could pick up a formal outfit, I heard there’s a celebration happening here soon.” Peach found an image in her head. A simple dress, maybe not even a dress. Just, nothing too showy. She wouldn’t want any attention to herself.

The two opened the door and stepped inside, a little bell ringing. The room was filled with immediate yelling from the two people who were already inside the building. 

“WHAT do you MEAN you LOST IT?!”   
Peach realized they might’ve come at the wrong time…   
There was a man, around her age, in full armor aside from the helmet he held in his hands. In front of him was the person he was yelling at, a child dressed for snowy weather, who wore a dejected look on their face. 

“I-I’m sorry, bro… I didn’t know it was so important.” The child put their hands together, looking down. “I’m sorry…” 

The knight groaned, rolling his eyes. “What am I going to do with you, Snow Sugar?” He crossed his arms and motioned his head towards the stairs. “Go to your room. I’ll find it myself.” The kid, apparently named Snow Sugar, turned around and started upstairs, not looking up from the floor. The taller sighed and then put his helmet back on, turning around- “AGH-!?”

Peach and Bonbon jumped when he yelled in shock, probably not expecting a person and a panda in his doorway. “Oh goodness me, you scared me.” The knight calmed down, putting a hand to his cheek. “Sorry about anything you saw, we were having some difficulties. I’m Knight, owner of the shop.” 

“I’m Peach.” She introduced herself.

“Bonbon!” 

Knight chuckled at the panda’s enthusiasm. “Nice to meet you two, I’ve never seen you in town before. Are you here for anything specific?” 

“Oh, yes actually!” Peach started. “I heard there’s a celebration happening soon, I’d like to get a dress.”

“A dress, hm? I think I can figure something out for you.” He smiled. He looked thoughtfully at her for a moment, before grinning. “Come with me to the back.” 

“I- oh, no! I’m not looking for a dress made specifically for me, I’m just here to get one.” She tried to put him down, but he didn’t seem discouraged.

“Nonsense, darling.” Knight turned around, heading for the door to the back of the building. “Every cookie in the hamlet has a specific formal outfit, especially for the Sun and Moon celebration. Now come along.” 

Peach glanced at Bonbon, who looked back at her. She shrugged, and then followed Knight to the back.

After around thirty minutes, the ensemble was done. Peach looked in the full body mirror in front of her, gasping at her outfit. Even she didn’t think she could look so good.

The dress was simple, yet stunning. It was a baby pink dress with half sleeves, and a leg slit, the skirt gradienting to a light yellow at the bottom. 

“Oh my, Knight, this is gorgeous. Is it really just for me?” She turned to him, and he had a big smile on his face.

“Of course it is. No other cookie would look just as good as you do in this specifically.” Knight picked up a box and handed it to her. “Take the dress off and put it in here to take home with you. Once you’re ready for the celebration, I recommend putting your hair into a single bun instead of doubles.” 

Peach smiled at him. “Thank you, I can tell that thanks to you my first celebration here will be a lot better.” The knight nodded at her, and then left the room for her to get back into her normal outfit. 

The martial artist held the box carefully in her hands, leaving the back room. Knight seemed to be missing completely, likely upstairs with his little sibling. “How’s the dress?” Bonbon asked her.

“Absolutely wonderful.” Peach smiled. “He really knows what he’s doing.” She moved the box to one of her arms, putting a hand in her pocket. She pulled out a 20 dollar bill and left it on the counter, and then joined the panda at the door. “Come on lil buddy. Let’s go home.” 

~~~~~~

Peach sat cross legged in her library, holding a book labeled ‘Celebrations of the Cookie Kingdom.’ She opened it up and scanned through the pages. “Knight said it was the Sun and Moon celebration, right?” She asked nobody, as Bonbon was upstairs, asleep again.   
“Aha! Here it is, the Sun and Moon celebration.” She began to read the pages, very interested in the story of this occasion…

“The Sun and Moon celebration, set on the 4th of June, is the celebration of wonders. All cookies gather around to watch the Millennial Tree lower the moon and raise the sun all on his own. His wondrous power causes such a spectacle that the cookie folk felt that if they’d see it more than once a year, they’d become hungry for such a spectacle more often.  
The Sun and Moon celebration started when our highest god, Millennial Tree, learnt he had the power to raise the sun and moon all on his own. After the unfortunate disappearance of the previous moon ruler, Moonlight, he had to learn to control the moon as well as the sun.”

“Moonlight? I’ve never heard that name before…” Peach stopped reading and put her book down, slipping a bookmark in. She got up and went over to her bookshelves again, searching around. Where could she find that name and study it? There had to be some sort of book…  
“Gods and Goddesses of the Cookie Kingdom.” She pulled the book out of the shelf, and immediately started flicking through the pages. “Moonlight, Moonlight, Moonlight- Moonlight!” She stopped at the page and began anxiously reading...

“Moonlight, the former goddess of the moon. She controlled the moon alongside the Millennial Tree, who controlled the sun. These two ruled the cookie kingdom in peace for many, many years.   
One day, Moonlight turned dark- she started trying to trap the world in nighttime by stopping Millennial Tree from raising the sun. Moonlight transformed into a dark and powerful being to fight her higher god, who is now known as Crescent Moon. This turned into a battle between the two, which ended quickly. The Millennial Tree trapped Crescent inside the moon with a magic spell, celebrating victory.   
That day, the Millennial Tree learnt how to raise the moon as well. They celebrated with a festival, now known as the Sun and Moon celebration.  
Tales tell that on the night of the 1000th Sun and Moon celebration, the lady in the moon will escape, and succeed in trapping the world in eternal darkness this time.”

Peach almost dropped her book inside shock. “The 1000th Sun and Moon celebration? That’s…”

“That’s this one.”


	2. Friendship Well Baked - Chapter 1 Part 2

Peach spent the days following the celebration in a severe rush- she ran around her library to learn as very much as she could about Crescent Moon, Moonlight, the Celebration, and… something called the elements of harmony.   
There were six elements; Honesty, laughter, kindness, generosity, loyalty, and an unknown sixth. It was stated that six beings, who held the purest form of those traits inside them, would be able to use the elements of harmony to stop any treacherous creature that dared attempt to destroy the cookie kingdom.  
Peach tried her very, very best to find out who the cookies with the pure forms of the elements of harmony in them were, by studying every book with a section of them to the very end, but she couldn’t. But she NEEDED to know. The fate of the day and night balanced on the elements and their possessors. 

“Peeeaach, stop studying! We need to go to the celebration!” 

Bonbon interrupted her focused reading with a tug to the dress, trying to pull her out of her seat. She glanced at the clock, and then looked back at her panda. “It doesn’t matter right now, Bonbon! If I’m a little late, it’ll be worth it to stop Crescent from destroying the daytime!” 

The panda sighed. “It’s just an old cookie tale, Peach! You should be having fun!” Peach groaned as he continued complaining to her, before snapping her book shut. 

She stood up and adjusted her hair bun, picking up the panda in one swoop. “Fine. Let’s go!” Despite her fear of Crescent’s return, which she was almost 100% sure was real, she didn’t want to put her friend down. Her long dress flowed in the windy sunset as she ran out of her home and off to the middle of the hamlet, where the celebration was being held inside the town hall. 

Peach stepped inside and immediately gasped. Cookies, young and old, all in gorgeous outfits filled the halls. In the middle, there was a high stage for Millennial Tree to stand as he raised the sun. There were tables covered in pastries and foods made with vegetables on the outskirts of the room, all fresh and ready to be eaten. Decorations covered the walls and a boy Peach recognized, Herb, was up on a magical vine protruding from the ceiling in front of a perch covered in birds. He held a orchestral staff and was ready to get the avians to sing, simply waiting for the cue.

Peach smiled. Everything was perfect, she simply hoped Bonbon was right about it being an old tale. She scanned the room for someone familiar and walked over to him. “Hiya papa!” She said happily. Leek turned around and immediately a smile covered his face.

“Peach! I didn’t think you’d come here!” He said enthusiastically, and with it his daughter finally looked at his outfit. He was in a deep green button-up with a long shirt tail, neon green heel boots, and dark green pants. A striped top hat laid on his head, looking certainly silly.

Peach chuckled. “What, you thought I’d miss my first celebration here?” She crossed her arms, “You look like a dork.” 

Leek smiled. “I know! But it’s entertaining them, so I’m fine with it.” He gave a quick point past the table he leaned on, and Peach peeked over his shoulder. There were three kids, all staring at him, seeming to try to stifle their laughter and failing while bursting out cackling. Next to them, two other kids in incredibly fancy formal outfits looked completely disgusted. They glared at Leek, before stalking off.

Peach looked back at her father, the mildest concern on her face. “Huh. You really don’t mind it? They’re laughing AT you.” 

He chuckled. “So what? They’re having fun, they’re smiling. I find my own outfit funny too!” It surprised her. Her dad really had changed since she’d last met him, previously he would’ve been a little mad if he was laughed at. But, he seemed to be considering it to be laughing with him instead of at him.

It made Peach smile. He was happier. “Alright dad, I’ll see you later.” With that, she turned around and walked off.

The martial artist stepped over to where Herb was with the birds, and looked around. She couldn’t spot anyone else she recognized, until she looked up on stage, and saw Knight. He was putting up decorations around the stage, seeming to be very careful with them and how he placed them. Once he was down, he looked around and smiled, stepping to the side of the stage. “What is he planning..?” Peach mumbled to herself. 

“Ladies, gentlemen, and other friends!” Knight called out to the entire room, and everyone stopped talking to turn to him. “Everyone is here for the sun and moon celebration, the day of all days! And I can see that everyone is ready, which means the celebration can officially begin!” The crowded hall cheered, and Peach smiled widely. She’d seen the sun and moon celebration before, at Sugarteara or even the City Of The Millennial Tree itself, but it was great to see her teacher raise the sun and lower the moon again. Knight grabbed the rope to raise the curtain and reveal Millennial Tree, gave it a hard tug, and…

...Nobody was there.

“What!?” Knight yelled, and a whole array of gasps and panic swallowed the room. 

Peach gasped quietly and her eyes widened. ‘Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is,’ She begged her own thoughts. 

The knight looked around anxiously, unsure of what to do. “I, uh… No cookie panic! I-I’m sure he’s just, uh, a little late-! Yeah!” He tried desperately to calm everyone and himself down, looking around frantically. 

“Knight, look out!” Someone in the crowd screamed. 

“What!?” Knight yelled in a panic, leaning against the banister on the stage. He turned around and saw a mist of dark purple fly right past his face. It contorted and shaped around horribly, almost painful to watch, before slamming into the floor.

And in that moment,

As the purple smog formed into a being,

Peach could feel her heart skip a beat, several.

“Ah, hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Howling laughter filled the room.

And where the Millennial Tree was supposed to,  
Crescent Moon stood. 

Everyone froze in their place as Crescent slammed her staff onto the floor, erupting a loud bang through the entire hall. Knight started shaking in his boots, gripping the banister while desperately trying to keep his balance. “If you know what’s best for you, all you cookies will stay silent and listen as I speak!” She yelled, slamming her staff down again, making the hall go silent. The ceiling even began to crack a little, causing Herb to fall from his vine, barely being able to make a flower to soften the fall.

Crescent smiled, an almost ominous grin. “Good. I see you all value your lives.” She turned to Knight and gave him a soul piercing glare. “Get OFF!” She yelled, a villainous and poisonous anger spitting from her voice. 

The evil goddess chambered her staff and swung at him, which he barely ducked under with a scream. He stepped backwards and leaned onto the railing, visibly shaken. Crescent wasn’t done with him yet, she raised her staff and stabbed it into the stage bottom, sending cracks down it’s structure. Part of the stage broke and fell, Knight falling with it. “Ah- aaAAAAHHH!” He screamed as he plummeted from the stage, only seeing the smile on Crescent’s face as he fell. 

“I’ve gotcha!” A rougher voice yelled out, and a blur of red shot by. The knight was caught out of the air and the red being landed, revealing himself to be Fire Spirit. He placed him down without another word before shooting up again, going straight for Crescent.

“Woah there partner, slow down!” A girl grabbed him by the tail and yanked him down, forcing him to land. “Didn’t you see what almost just happened to Knight!? Be careful!” Spinach scolded him, but he crossed his arms and glared up at Crescent.

“If every cookie in this room would SHUT UP, this would all be OVER ALREADY!” The goddess screamed out, stomping on the ground with a thunderous bang again. Everyone went silent, and she went more lax. “Good, I see you cookies have even an INCH of COMMON SENSE!”

Crescent took a deep sigh and paid no attention to the crowd, unknowing of Peach, who was forcing her way to the front. She had to get there. She needed to stop this.  
“You all came here to see your precious tree raise the sun, huh?” She started, a malicious grin growing on her face. “Well that’s too bad, because the sun will NEVER RISE AGAIN! YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE SUN, IT WILL ONLY BE THE MOON AND THE STARS! THE STUPID TREE IS GONE FOREVER!” Her voice was drowning in poison as she cackled, watching every cookie in the hall’s face go pale and full of fear. “And there is NOTHING you can do to stop me!” 

“Yes there is!” 

The confident voice pierced through like a bullet. Everyone stopped and stared at its source, gasping. “There is a way to stop you! And I know exactly what it is!” Peach yelled up at the goddess, her fear being overtaken by her confidence. “The elements of harmony WILL be found! And you WILL be STOPPED!” 

Crescent went silent for a moment, before giggling. “You think you can even find the elements, much less use them?” She started full on cackling, an awful noise. “Pathetic! You’re so dumb!” She went silent and raised her arms. “THIS WORLD WILL BATHE IN NIGHT FOR ALL ETERNITY! AND YOU CANNOT STOP ME!” The goddess turned back into smog, zooming out a window, leaving the hall in silence. 

Peach glared as she left, before turning around and scooping up Bonbon, who was frozen in fear, and running off herself. “Hey! Get back here!” She heard Fire Spirit yell again, but she couldn’t tell what happened next as she got farther away.

Fire Spirit zoomed out the window after Crescent, attempting to chase her. But it was far too late, the cloud of darkness had already escaped deep into the night’s sky. As he saw it ascend off, he felt defeated. “Eternal night..?” He turned around and saw Peach running away from the Town Hall, heading for her home. “What in the..?” After mumbling such words, he thought fast, before zooming off after her.

~~~~~~ 

Peach ran inside and slammed the door behind her, not glancing back. She stopped and panted, not ready for such a sprint after being so convinced to party. She looked down at the panda in her arms, who’d… managed to fall asleep. There goes her assistant. “You really can sleep through everything…” She sighed, before dashing upstairs to her room. She slowed down abruptly, leaned down and carefully placed Bonbon in his mini bed, only to speed up and dash downstairs again. He wouldn’t mind having no blanket, right? 

She skidded in front of a bookcase and immediately started searching. She HAD to find the elements of harmony reference again, and find out where they were- surely those who hold its purest forms would’ve heard of such a tragedy, and be rushing there now, right? Peach wasn’t sure what she’d do to help, but she felt she needed to do something.  
“Elements, elements, elements, elements, elements, elements-!” She searched, repeating what she oh so desperately needed to find.

CRASH!

As she scanned the shelf, she heard wood momentarily break behind her. As Peach whipped around, she met a familiar, literally red, face, right in front of hers.

“And what about these elements, huh!?” Fire Spirit practically shouted, inches away from the girl’s face. “And how did you know about Crescent!? Are you some sort of imposter!? A spy!?” 

“Hey, hey! Cool down, flame man!” The god yelped as he was yanked back by the tip of the tail, finding himself being firmly grabbed by Spinach. “The girl ain’t no spy, calm it.”

“But… she does know what’s going on…” Herb stepped up and muttered. It occurred to Peach that every person she’d met yesterday, including her father and Knight, were there, and she was in the hot seat. 

Leek seemed to notice something in her expression as she glanced away, flapping her hands in front of her. “Peach, we know you don’t have ill intent, but-!” He glared at Fire with his words, laced with some sort of old venom. “We need to know what’s going on!” 

“Yes, we’re confused. And you seem to have the answers.” Knight added on. 

Peach clamped her hands together, staring across everyone. Her papa had a soft expression, understanding and calming. Just like how her father used to. Herb clenched his plant pot close to his face, and Fire had calmed down a little, trying to get his tail out of Spinach’s grip.  
She lowered her hands and sighed. “I can explain, but I need to find a book. About the elements of harmony.” 

“History and Use of the Elements Of Harmony.” Knight recited, pulling a book out of the shelf and smiling at Peach. She gawked, and snatched the book from his hand after getting the expression off her face.   
Peach promptly found the page she was looking for, and started reading.

“The Elements of Harmony are six gems, representing six traits. Honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and an unknown last one. Legends say that the elements are kept in the old castle ruins of the sun and moon deities, waiting to be used again to save the cookie kingdom. Only six cookies, representing the purest forms of these traits, will be able to operate as a team to use the Elements of Harmony and save the world.” 

Peach finished and looked up, looking over at the other cookies. They all seemed dumbfounded, shocked. It made her sigh again. “There’s your explanation. I need to find the elements of harmony.” She snapped the book shut and tucked it under her arm, grabbing her staff off her back. She started to walk off, before she was stopped.

“No, Peach.” The aforementioned looked behind her after feeling the hand on her shoulder. “We need to find the elements of harmony.” 

~~~~~~ 

The group of six strolled up to the entrance to the Neverfree forest, a few shuddering. It was getting dark, the cold air was blowing, and the forest itself was eerie.  
The group had all quickly returned to their homes and gotten out of their suits and dresses, so they were more ready, but not a soul knew what to expect from it. 

“Is this even safe..?” Herb muttered, holding his plant close. 

“You guys volunteered to come. I would recommend you back out now.” Peach said, stepping the first few steps into the woods. 

The god scoffed. “Not. Happening.” Fire Spirit flew past her, Knight promptly following. 

“I’m not letting you go in there alone, sweetie! Your papa’s coming with ya.” Leek also walked past her, leaving Peach with the two green cookies.

Spinach gave her a smile. “We’re sticking to you, and not leavin’ your side. Tryin’ to separate us would be like tryna pick crumbs off a cupcake!” The farmer followed the others, running confidently. Peach glanced behind her, checking on Herb.

He noticed her questioning expression, and lowered his plant to show his mouth.   
“I’ll catch up…”  
He mumbled, motioning for the martial artist to go ahead. Peach glanced between him and the forest, before sighing. And then, she gripped her staff, and sprinted for the others. 

~~~~~~

“So have you guys been in this place before?” Peach asked, immediately hearing Knight gasp.

“Oh, heavens no! Nobody dares to enter this forest lest they have a death wish.” He turned back and glanced at her, before returning his gaze to the path.

Herb seemed to tuck his plant closer to himself, “I would’ve never entered here if it… wasn’t for Crescent.” His voice shook, and Spinach put a hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down, lil bro! You won’t be hurt, not on my watch!” 

“You two are siblings?” Knight asked.

“‘Course we are! Couldn’t ya tell?” The longer Peach looked at the two side by side, the more she realized that they did look related. And then she remembered that her and her dad’s look nothing alike.

“Stop!” Leek yelled at the front, pointing forward. “Look! A sign!” He pointed towards a sign splitting two paths. The sign pointed down the left one.   
Down the left path was a clear road, but no clear end in sight.   
Down the right path, it goes deeper into the forest. The sides were bush covered and thorny, and it only got darker deeper in. 

Fire crossed his arms. “Welp, down we go.” He started floating down the path before being stopped, not being gripped by the tail.

“Stop.” Spinach announced.

“Stop..?” Herb whispered. His sister didn’t reply, only motioning the god back, which he did. She took a couple steps forward, squinting down the left path. 

She was silent, before pointing at the right path. “We can’t go this way. To the right.” 

“Huh? Why?” Leek asked, tilting his head. “The right is all dark and spooooky, it must be daaaaaangerous-!” 

“Trust me. We can’t go that way.” She turned back and she had a deep emotion in her wide eyes as she stepped back, turning down the right path. 

“...down we go again…” Herb said for Fire, following his older sister.

As the other four followed them both down the path, Spinach whipped her head around and scanned the area. “There!” She pointed through the trees. Past the branches, there was the end of the left path- a pool of murky quicksand, animal bones laying atop it.

“AaaAAAH-!” Herb screamed, almost dropping his plant pot in sheer devastation of the sight.

“How did you know that was there?” Fire asked, hovering above her. 

“I didn’t.” She shrugged. “But my gut had a feeling, and my gut is always honest.” 

~~~~~~

The path widened as the group of six continued down it, avoiding the thorns that covered bushes and vines. Herb had returned to the back of the line and was glancing around frantically, only holding his plant closer to his face. It seemed to bring him some… strange comfort through the fear of such a situation.

“Gah-!” Peach yelled, stopping in her place, Knight slamming into her back. She had almost walked into a wildcat tangled in vines, violently thrashing around, attempting feebly to get away.

“We gotta find a way around this thing!” Fire exclaimed, looking up before flying up to the trees. He grinned before grabbing the top of the vine, about to break it. 

“You can’t just cut it down like that! It’ll go wild on us!” Spinach yelled up, the god not coming down yet, remaining still at the treetops. “We need to calm it down!” 

“I’ve got a solution!” Leek prompted and reached for his waist.

“No swords.” The swordsman moved his hand away from his waist and returned to a content position when Peach said that.

“Um, guys, I think-“

Herb was cut off. “We can neutralize it with magic!” Knight suggested.

“I don’t know any spells for neutralizing animals, do you?” The magical martial artist motioned at him. 

“...No.”

“Uh, guys-“ Herb began again.

“I could-!” 

“No. Swords.” Leek was stopped by his daughter again. 

“Guys!” They all whipped back. The gardener stepped forward, lowering his plant, and stopping before the wildcat. “There there, it’s okay…” 

The four watched as the wildcat stopped thrashing, allowing Herb to pat its head. “It’s okay, it’s okay… can you tell me what happened?” He asked the wildcat, and to everyone’s surprise, it began… mewing? “...Oh my, that’s terrible.” Was he… conversing with the wildcat? “My friends and I will release you if you promise not to hurt us, and to just return to your kittens. Okay? ...Okay.” He looked up at the god, who was hovering in the air with a dumbfounded expression. “You can let her go.” In a moment, Fire shook the expression off his face, plucking the vines. The wildcat fell with a thud, before bouncing up and nuzzling Herb. “It’s okay, now go to your kin!” He pointed, and the cat bounded away. The gardener turned around and saw everyone’s agape expressions.

Fire Spirit descended from the sky. “How did you do that..? You seemed to communicate with the wildcat!” He questioned, the look on his face speaking 1000 words.

“Oh, it was easy… I just showed it a little kindness.” 

~~~~~~

Peach started putting things together as she continued with the others, her mind racing. Was she really thinking that..? No, it couldn’t be. She didn’t have much time to think before the woods became darker.

“...I was about to say I was sick of the same murky forest appearance but I guess that’s out of the barrel.” Knight sighed, promptly tripping over a stick. “Agh-!” 

“Oh my- sorry..!” Herb walked into someone, immediately apologizing. The following few minutes were plagued with sounds of annoyance as people tripped and fell into each other, splashing mud everywhere.

“You better not get any mud on my armor!”  
“I-I think I dropped my plant..!”  
“Hey! Who just grabbed my tail?”  
“Wasn’t me! SOMEBODY just stepped on my foot!”  
“Oopsie doopsie!” 

Every sentence plagued the air alongside the scent of dirt and whatever was in the mud at that time. 

That’s when Fire Spirit realized something. “What the hell are we doing? I can just use my flames to guide us out of here.” He said, rolling his eyes in his own annoyance at himself. He hovered away slightly, finding himself face to face with- “Ah- aaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHH!” The god screamed in fear, immediately darting away.

“What’s so scary? It’s only- eeeAAAAH-!” Knight yelled too as the moonlight glowed through the treetops to make light of the area. Every tree's bark was mangled and distorted, creating horrifying faces that would make even the most mature cookie scream in terror.   
The group all huddled together as they screeched in horror, finding only protection in shutting their eyes.

“Ehehe! Hahaha!”

Laughter and giggles filled the air, making everyone stare at the source.  
“Papa! What are you doing?!” Peach yelled.

Leek was laughing at the trees, giggling his heart out. He had to hold his stomach from how hard he laughed as he flicked the tree’s branch, one that was positioned like a nose in its bark face. “What? I’m laughing! Heha!” 

“How can you laugh in a situation like thiiiiiis-!” Herb wailed.

The swordsman sighed. “I guess I’ll have to explain!” He crossed his arms.

“When I was a little cookie my mother told me, what she was about to say was important I would see~!” He… sung?

“He’s not-“  
“He is.” 

“She told me I had to face my fears, I had to get them off! Find a way to keep them away, so I could sleep well in my loft!”  
“So I found my little way, my way to make them go! I simply had to laugh it off, ditch them in the snow!”   
With that line, he spun around at a tree, one that’s frightening face seemed to lurch out. Leek cleared his throat, “Mm- Ha. Ha.” 

Poof~!

Someone gasped. The face was gone.

“Sooo, let me show how to giggle at the ghostly!” He pulled Herb to a tree and the gardener gulped down a lump in his throat, before giggling lightly. The face disappeared. “Guffaw at the gross-y!” Fire didn’t need to be dragged to get the message, he pointed down at a tree and started laughing heartily, as though to make fun of its face. The wooden features disappeared.  
“Crack up at the creepy, whoop it up with the wheefy! Snortle at the spooky, and chortle at the cooky!”

With all the encouragement, everyone was a barrel of laughter while Leek sang. Every face on every tree disappeared like magic, replacing fear with joy. As everybody began calming down, Peach looked at her father. “How did you know that would work?”

He shrugged. “Laughter always does!”

~~~~~~

Warning: Blood

The group laughed their way through the forest, eventually finding themselves at a clearing. Peach beamed, “We made it! We’re almost to the Elements of Harmony!” She pointed and started running forward along the path.

“Hey! Wait up!” Fire Spirit yelled, bracing his body before darting after her. Everyone sounded their own little statement before chasing each other, excluding the armored fellow. Knight watched everyone run ahead while only walking himself, looking carefully, as though focusedly studying the soon coming area. 

Suddenly, he jolted before taking a burst forward. “Everyone, STOP!” He yelled, running to join the others. “YOU NEED TO STOP BEFORE ONE OF YOU-!”

A scream pierced thick through the air, alongside a splash. “He- HEELP!” Spinach yelled in sheer panic, immediately being dragged away from the others by the forceful stream. She tried to stand up, but the water soaked into and weighed her dress down. 

The four at the riverbed could only watch as she fell and went face first into the muddy, rocky bottom of the lake. She whimpered fearfully, clawing at the bottom to keep herself from being swept away even further from her friends. Spinach felt rocks tear through the skin on her hands, a thick crimson red streaming alongside the river blue. 

“Sis!” Herb screamed, “W-we need to help her!” He cried desperately, full well of the knowledge that he was too weak to help her himself. The gardener looked up hopefully at the god hovering above him, only to get a sad look back. Fire Spirit would risk being immediately extinguished if he dared to go even near the river.

“HOLD ON! I’M COMING!” Everyone whipped around and saw Knight running, seemingly panicked, throwing his armor off simultaneously. Peach had a moment internally questioned what he was doing, as all of his armor was off by the time he reached the others, only his thick black under armor being left tight on his form and his lance tight in his hand.

Splash-!

“Agh- Knight!?” Peach yelled in confusion after he threw himself into the river, immediately ending up knee-deep. “What the hell are you doing!?” 

He didn’t respond. Knight stabbed his lance into the ground to stabilize himself, the force of the water making him barely able to stand on his own two feet. When Spinach heard (and felt) the splash of him coming in, she looked up from the blood pouring from her hands to meet his eyes, and he recognized the look in hers. Panic. “I’ve got you, Spinach.” He attempted to reassure her, plucking his weapon from the ground before stabbing it back into the ground further in front of him. 

The other four could only watch with bitter anticipation as he worked towards her, eventually reaching close enough to grab her. Knight reached his hand out, and Spinach lifted one hand to grab it, only to be yanked the slightest further away. The farmer’s hand was full of sharp rocks, and grabbing her hand would only drive stone deeper into her flesh. The warrior let out a hushed gasp, before shaking his head. He kneeled down, getting water up to his chest and his clothes completely wet, and grabbing her by the wrist. 

With a groan, he managed to pull the taller woman up. Spinach sighed in relief, finally free of water in her face every few seconds, but Knight’s determined look said that it wasn’t over yet. Carefully, the two worked their way closer to the riverbed, until the others could pull them to the ground at last.  
“You two are okay!” Leek yelled happily as the group moved away from the bank, knowing better than to go near it again. 

“I’m okay, and I’ve got you to thank for it, Knight.” Spinach said, smiling at the aforementioned. The warrior flustered a little, putting his hand behind his head while shying away.

“It was nothing,” He said, “All that matters is that you’re safe now.” He smiled back, before looking down at his waterlogged clothes. “Eugh…” 

The girl couldn’t help but chuckle at his frustration, despite being somewhere near equally as annoyed at the weight she felt tugging her dress. She glanced back by the forest at the pile of armor, “‘Least ya remembered to take those off so they wouldn’t rust, right?” She pointed.

Knight shrugged but nodded. Peach, out of panic and into logic again, looked down the river. “We gotta figure out why it’s rushing so heavily.” She said, not daring to step closer to see down better. She looked over to see the warrior giving her a look, before motioning to Spinach’s hand, which he held in his. “Oh yeah… the rocks.”

After about five minutes of carefully removing rocks from her hand (and her barely wincing, which he could certainly admire,) Knight looked up at Fire Spirit. “Can you grab my cape from my armor for me?” The god raised an eyebrow, but zoomed away, being back with his friend’s cape in his hands in the blink of an eye. The shorter took the cape and with one fast stroke-

Riiiiip~!

-tore a strip out of the fabric, which he promptly ripped into two pieces. Spinach was confused. “Why’d ya do that?” She asked, getting no response. Instead, he just wrapped both pieces of fabric around her palms, leaving her fingers and thumbs free. She smiled gratefully, “Thanks buddy, butcha didn’t need to be so generous and sacrifice ya cape!” 

Knight shrugged. “That’s later’s problem. Right now, we find out why the river is flowing so roughly.”

Peach rolled her eyes, “That’s what I said,” She mumbled.

~~~~~~ (Separation between Generosity and Loyalty segments!)

Fire Spirit flew ahead of the rest of the group, speeding along the riverbed. He ignored the other five’s yells at him to slow down, completely encased in the need to solve that rushing water mystery. As he sped away, he kept his eyes on the water, waiting till he found the source of such a violent flow.   
Despite having gotten so used to it, water still made the god nervous, especially in such a large quantity as a river. As long as he’d keep his head above it, he’d be safe from death, but the stinging sensation he got from even the slightest contact with it was one he didn’t want to relive again.  
And… the thought of getting any part of his torso in it also frightened Fire. While it wasn’t lethal, he would recall stories that his mother told him to keep him from getting cocky around water. She told him a tale of a cookie with blazing Phoenix wings like his, who had gotten daring and floated on their back on a lake. Only pain ruptured through that cookie’s body as they felt their wings melt right off the bone, leaving bone’s revealed on their back and a melted goop of extinguished flesh floating on the still waters.

THWACK-!

“Agh-!” Fire Spirit yelled as he slammed into a tree. His mindless worrying about the river had caused his attention to start lacking, and miss seeing a tree right in front of his face. He pulled himself up and shook a fist, “Damn you, tree!” Before looking back to the river. He was met with a row of cookies in magical, boat-like contraptions on the water, which was causing a stir on its surface. Without even thinking twice, he yelled. “Hey! What do you three think you're doing?” 

The one closest to the riverbed, a small girl with long cream hair and a witch's hat, turned to face him. “We’re getting the waters ready for the Enchanters.” She said monotonously, before turning back to a lever. She seemed to be on an emotionless loop of pulling it down, which churned the wheel in front of the machine that caused the water to flow with such speed.

Fire raised an eyebrow. “The Enchanters? As in, THE, Enchanters?” He questioned her.

The girl didn’t turn to face him that time. “Yes. The Enchanters. The group of talented fliers that almost every flying cookie in the sky city wishes they could be like or part of.” She turned to face him with her last sentence, rose red eyes meeting empty blue ones. “Including you.” 

It made his eyes widen. “How did you-?”

“And on that note,” She interrupted him, “Maybe if you help us, I could throw in a word for you to them. I saw how fast you were going while coming here.” The little girl smirked, her movement not stopping.

His confusion turned to beaming with a hint of embarrassment. “Really!?” He asked, the many layers of reasons as to why the Enchanters would probably NOT be performing during that ‘eternal night’ not even occurring to him. The little girl nodded, and he grinned, flying up a little higher while shooting a hand in the air. “Awesome-!”

Fire stopped himself when he heard voices in the distance. He looked over and saw his friends, still trudging along the riverbank, trying to get by to him. Or at least, he did see them, before a flick of the little girl’s wand caused the trees to move in a way that blocked the view. “Don’t mind them. What’ll it be, fire man?” She asked. He looked between the fourth mechanism, which was empty, and the blocked path. 

Back at the riverbank, Leek squinted. “Hey! The path gets suddenly blocked by trees!” He yelled and pointed.

Peach groaned. “What do we do now?” She said annoyed, gripping her staff just in case she’d need to use magic or just brute force.

Knight looked away from the girl he stood next to and shrugged. “We wait for Fire. He flew ahead after all.” He said, stepping forward with a mild annoyance in his tone. He cupped his hands to his mouth, “Fire Spirit! Hurry up!”   
Little to his knowledge, Fire couldn't hear him. 

Fire Spirit continued to glance between the direction of which he could no longer hear the others, and the mechanism. The temptation lingered at the back of his mind, despite his many regrets of even considering it an option. It’d be wrong to accept, it was more important to catch Crescent and save the daytime, but… this was his dream since childhood. Pathetic for a deity, but… it was right there…

He took a breath. “Well.” He said, seeing the girl smirk a little. “I…”  
“...Am afraid I have to say no.”   
The moment the words left Fire’s mouth, he darted away, kicking the branches of the trees aside to clear the path.

“Fire! There you are!” Peach said happily, glad to see him. 

“Hey guys! Come on!” The aforementioned guided them to the machinery, standing before the girl again.

Knight gasped. “The river flow was man made?!” He could barely believe his eyes. 

Peach’s eyes narrowed, and the little girl met her gaze. “Apparently.” She stabbed her staff into the ground to take a position of maturity. “Stop the flow and let us past.” She demanded.

The cream girl shook her head. “No. He made his choice. There will be no crossing.” She turned back to the lever, shutting her eyes. She tried to make it seem like she was done with the conversation.

Fire frowned. But, he got an idea. “Oh yeah? Well I know another way across!” He said, trying to get the girl’s attention. It worked, and she opened one eye to look at him.   
She gasped as a foot flew into her face and made contact, kicking her right off the contraption. She hit the water, and-

Gasp!

-faded into a cloud of purple smog, which promptly soared away. It got the attention of the other two controllers, who promptly stood up in defense.

“They’re fake! We need to get rid of them!” Peach yelled, only for Fire to promptly block her with his arm.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this!” He looked back at her, before soaring forward, leaving the five to watch him.

Fire Spirit soared forward and grabbed the closest one, a small boy with white hair, quickly throwing him into the water. He dissolved into smoke, flying away. Which left an older woman with glasses, who was standing in a defensive position, watching him closely. His eyebrows furrowed, before smirking intently. 

He soared to the side before going back in to kick her off the side, but it seems the lady was expecting it. When he was about to make contact, the woman grabbed his foot, pulling him past her. He barely floated above the river in time to not make contact, whipping back around.

Herb gasped from the riverbank. “We need to help-!” He was stopped by Spinach protectively standing in front of him. There was no way in hell she was letting her little brother risk falling into the rushing waters. The situation was all balanced on the god.

Fire Spirit kicked the woman by the side, not giving her a chance to fight back. As she fell, she reached her hand out, trying to grab the deity any way she could. As her back hit the water, she grabbed one of the gods invisible feathered wings, yanking him back and unveiling them from their magic with her. The woman growled, “If I’m going down, you are too!”

Fire looked over her shoulder at her and there was some feeling, some odd fright, her determination deep in his eyes. “FUCK NO I’M NOT!” He screamed, flapping his wings vigorously. It splashed water everywhere, somehow missing his main flames, and hitting the woman multiple times until her grip faltered. She fell into the water, a ball of smog joining the others.

The god burst up, immediately clasping his soaked wings against his back and dropping to his knees. It stung like a bitch, and he could feel his wing muscles weaken slowly with the burning sensation. He bit his lip to keep in wails of pain, still unwilling to swallow his pride and show weakness. 

“Fire! Fire, are you okay?!” He could hear his friends call out to him. Now that the water had stopped, it was safe enough for the others to carefully cross the contraptions and get to their friend. The aforementioned deity couldn’t even muster up the magic to veil his Phoenix wings again, letting everyone see the pair dim and twitch sporadically. He couldn’t muster a word. 

Suddenly, he felt himself get hoisted up. He looked over to see Spinach sling his arm over her shoulder, supporting his weight on her body. She smiled at him, though her concern didn’t falter in her eyes. “Yer gonna be okay. Now let’s get outta this river, I’ve gotcha.” 

Once the group reached the other side and found a spot, Spinach leaned the taller against a tree. He let his body sag over itself, not bothering to hold himself up any longer, or maybe he was just completely unable to. “Fire Spirit, will you be okay?” Peach asked him, the concern laced in her voice.

He looked weakly up at her, before staring past her at the path. At the end, he could see a ruined castle in the distance. He shut his eyes and grimaced, before smiling. “This is what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it Peach?” Fire asked, knowing the answer. “Come on. Let’s go get those elements.” Peach glanced at his wings, which still twitched. He could see him wince in his eyes every time they did, and she didn’t want to see him in such pain. “I’ll be alright. We need to hurry.” He stood up, a little wobbly, but Spinach not failing to support him. 

Even in pain, Fire’s loyalty was still in saving everyone. 

~~~~~~

The group trudged along the final step of their journey, the crumbling ruin becoming closer and closer. All six walked, as twitching wings weren’t the favorable option for flight, but it proved good enough. Peach’s concern morphed into a wide smile on her face as they arrived at the castle.

“This is it! We’re here!” Peach happily expressed, flapping her hands before running inside.

“Hey, wait for us!” Spinach chased her, the remaining 4 following suit. Nobody could restrain a gasp of amazement as they stepped inside the high walls of the castle, the moonlight bouncing off every surface. Peach was the most eager of everyone, but not for the scenery- for the stones. Five stones with the shapes of marks carved into them, reflecting five of the last generation of the six controllers of the elements of harmony, sat on high perches. 

The girl was eager, before her face dropped. “Peachie sweetie, what’s wrong?” Her father asked her.

“There’s only five elements like I thought, but…” She turned around and looked at Fire Spirit, who’s wings remained clasped shut. “We’ve lost the only one of us who can fly.”

Fire frowned, glancing around. “There’s no other way up either, what are we supposed to do?” As four of the group looked around for a solution, separating to look, the remaining two siblings looked at each other.

The farmer elbowed her brother. “Huh? What..?” Herb questioned in a hushed tone.

“You’ve still got that plant magic in you, right? Use it to get yourself up and grab the elements.” She whispered to him, unphased by the immediate look of shock on his face.

“I-I don’t want to do that..! I don’t want to disturb them so late…” 

“It’s either now or never bro-!” She paused to stop herself from yelling, “We need to stop Crescent Moon, so just use the magic.” Herb didn’t reply, only staring up at his sister with a fearful face. It made Spinach sigh. “I’m not mad, you just have to toughen up a little. Nobody will see if we get this over with now.” 

The shorter plant sibling swallowed the lump in his throat, clutching his plant close. “Fine…” He said weakly, before raising one hand to his face. He snapped his fingers, barely audible from how weak it was, and both siblings turned around. 

“Window.” Spinach motioned at a vine sticking in through one of the crumbling arches. Both of them ran over to it, Herb taking the vine in his hand. “I’ve never seen you fully do this before. All I’ve known is that you can just magically communicate with ‘em.” 

He chuckled. “Well… it’s a little different to how I made the perch at the ceremony.” He told her, extending his hand out the window. The vine carefully slinked around his arm, before slinking over his shoulder and down his back to finally wrap around his waist multiple times. The taller raised an eyebrow, before gasping, covering her mouth before anyone else in the room could hear it. The vines formed the outline of a pair of fairy-like wings, which were filled in by a film of some organic substance. “It’s something I learnt when I got trapped in the sky city, a rescue if I fell through the clouds…” He explained to his sister's shocked face. 

Spinach gaped for a moment, before shaking her head and smiling. “Guess you do know a lot more than I think, huh?” Herb glanced away, before looking up at the elements. “Be careful. Just throw them down to me, and I’ll put them down quietly. Nobody’ll notice.” She looked around the room, seeing everyone stuck doing their own thing to try and find a way up to the elements. 

Together, the two got to work, transporting stones one element at a time. Herb strained every time he carried one, but Spinach caught them with ease. They were down to the very last element when Herb yelped.

“Agh!” He panicked as he dropped an element unintentionally, it slipping out of his hands. Spinach leaped forward to catch it before it hit the ground, and successfully managed that, immediately rolling it down. But that wasn’t her main worry- her main worry was Herb, who, in a state of panic of not wanting others to see his magical flight, snapped the wings away prematurely, and was now plummeting down. 

“I’ve gotcha!” She yelled and skipped forward again, catching her brother in the nick of time. “You can’t just do that so recklessly!” 

“What is going on over here?” She dropped her brother and whipped around, seeing Knight and the others with a fusion of concern and some other confused emotion on their faces. 

“The elements! How did they come down?!” Peach asked, running forward and putting her hand on one of the heavy weights. 

“That doesn’t matter right now! We’ve got the…” Leek stopped, putting his clasped hands down to count. “Five elements? Aren’t there six?” Herb sighed with relief that nobody had further questions.

His daughter stood up and looked across the items, crossing her arms. “Everyone step back. I have an idea, and I might need you all here for it.” 

The other five all stood aside around her, while Peach took to her plan. She set the elements into a star shape and then sat in the middle. She lowered herself to her knees, supported by her staff, before pointing it up at the sky in front of her. The others watched as her expression went into all out focus, a magical glow coming from the top of her weapon. 

The five elements started to float around her, levitating over her head and being encased by her orange magical aura. “She’s doing it-! She’s doing it!” Leek beamed excitedly in a hushed tone. He was so proud of his little girl… But it seems that couldn’t last long. 

A familiar purple smog entered the ruins undetected, seeping along the stone floor. It reached the centerpiece before leaping sharply into the magical aura of elements, spinning them rapidly like a whirlwind. It was immediately seen by the ones outside, but not the one inside it, who was being encapsulated and trapped by the magic. 

“Th-that's not her magic color!” Knight pointed out immediately, stepping back. 

The swordsman’s heart dropped. “Peach!” He stepped forward and yelled desperately, “Get out of there!” 

The martial artist opened one eye to all the yelling, before gasping. “Gah-!” She stood up and screamed, only seeing her unfortunately cage of purple smog whirling around her. She continued to scream desperately, panicking and fearful, the sound plaguing the air. Leek started to run forward, wanting desperately to help his daughter as desperately as she wanted help-

And then

She was gone.

In the blink of an eye, it all disappeared. The elements, the whirlwind, and Peach. It all just- poofed away, like magic, leaving Leek to stumble onto the floor. “Where’d she go?!” Fire instinctively leaped up to his wings, faltering immediately back to his feet. 

The group of now five looked around in panic, before Spinach gasped. “There!” She yelled, pointing to a separate ruined structure. There was light pouring out of the cracks and empty windows.

“Come on everyone!” Leek motioned to the others, gripping his sword in its sheath as they ran off.

~~~~~~

Peach fell onto the ground with a crash, falling flat on her stomach. She pulled herself up on her hands, dazed, glancing around.  
And then. She saw her.  
Standing tall over her with a menacing expression.

Crescent Moon.

The shorter gasped and leaped up to her feet. She had mere seconds to think of something.

“Stand down, Peachie.” Moon hissed, pointing down at her. She winced at her father’s nickname being used, but regretfully obeyed, holding her staff carefully. “Listen to what I have to say, or else.” When Peach didn't move or respond, she smiled. “Good. Now, you have two options. You either leave now and let me have the Elements Of Harmony and allow eternal night to reign, or-“ She bared her teeth, which bore sharp canines. “I crush your precious Elements and allow all chaos to spread through the entire cookie kingdom!” 

“That won’t work! The spirits of the elements of harmony are still out there! They’ll stop this!” Peach retaliated, taking a step forward.

“THE SPIRIT’S ARE LONG DEAD! THEY CAN’T STOP ME!” Moon screamed down at her, lifting her knee up.

“Wait- NO!” 

CRASH!

The five stones shattered into pieces when Crescent’s boot hit the floor, the sound erupting across the entire area. Peach fell to her knees, a hand weakly reaching out, which fell limply. The elements were broken. The spirit’s were… dead..?

I mean… the books were from so long ago, it is possible that… that… the spirit’s died long ago…   
And if that was the case, the night would last forever now. Because there wasn’t a thing anybody could do about it.

Crescent Moon cackled at the shorter girl’s mortified face. “What’s wrong? Are you scared of the dark? Well you better get used to it, because that’s lasting FOREVER!” 

As the corrupted goddess laughed maniacally, Peach could do nothing but sit there, scared to the core and frozen in place.   
Or, she was, until she heard distant voices. She snapped her head around and saw silhouettes of the others coming up the stairs. And then she felt it.   
A spark. A spark of hope. 

She chuckled a little. “You think the spirit’s are dead..? I’m afraid you’re wrong.” She saw Crescent’s confused expression, and she stood up with the support of her staff. “Because the newest generation of the Elements Of Harmony- ARE RIGHT HERE!” She yelled, and saw Moon gape. Her friends were by her side, standing tall. 

That’s when the shattered elements began to glow with magic. “What?!” Crescent yelled.

Peach turned around and looked at Spinach. “Spinach, who saved us from danger by telling us the full truth when we were in disbelief, represents the spirit of- honesty!” She pointed her staff, and without any command, the shards glowing yellow floated around the tallest girl. The shorter one turned a little more and pointed at Herb. “Herb, who rescued a panicked big cat and us as well with only care, represents the spirit of kindness!” He covered his hand with his mouth as the green glowing crystals surrounded him. Peach turned to her father. “Leek, who reassured everybody with his song of laughter in the face of fear, represents the spirit of laughter!” The purple shards surrounded him and he poked one, giggling quietly. The martial artist turned over her other shoulder to point for Knight. “Knight, who sacrificed himself to save someone he barely knew, represents the spirit of generosity!” The blue crystals surrounded the warrior, and finally, she pointed at the god. “Fire Spirit, who stayed loyal to what was right and even fought through his fears, represents the spirit of loyalty!” Red glowing shards surrounded the grounded god, and Peach faced the front.

Crescent looked across everyone, scowling. “You idiots! There’s still no sixth element! There was no spark!” She yelled, only to be shut down immediately.

“But there was a spark!” Peach shut the goddess down. “It wasn’t magic, but it was still magical. It was inside my heart.” She turned around and looked at all of the others. “I felt a spark the moment I saw you all coming here. It was a spark of joy, I was so happy to see you all. You unfroze me from a capsule of fear, because in that moment I realized you all-“ She turned and faced Crescent again, pointing her staff forth. “Are my FRIENDS!” 

A glowing light shined from above, making everyone look up. As the sixth element dropped down, it hovered in front of Peach, glowing a bright orange light. Suddenly, every piece of every element began glowing brightly in its color. The pieces each collided together and formed jeweled necklaces on each cookie’s neck, glowing brightly. They all shined like the sun, but nobody could look away. Finally, the sixth element floated into Peach, forming a crown with the centerpiece of the element. 

She smiled. “When the five elements are united, they create the sixth element- the element of leadership!” 

Then. It happened. 

All six elements and all six people began glowing brightly, before that magical energy shot into the sky and formed- a rainbow, which began shooting back down at Crescent Moon. “No- NO! NOOOOOOOO!” She yelled, shrieked in denial and madness, the color enveloping her whole. The bright light filled the room with white, drowning out all other colors.

And then,

There was nothing but white.

“Augh…” 

A groan rang through the air, making Peach open her eyes groggily. She sat up and glanced around, seeing her four friends and father all laying around, slowly all getting up. “What… happened..?” Herb said tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

Peach shook her head around to try and wake herself up a little more, and to jog her memory. “We… we used the Elements Of Harmony and…” Her eyes shot open to see the sun in her eyes as she burst up to her feet. “We defeated Crescent Moon!” 

That woke the party up. Fire burst up into the air with a start, glancing around. “We did! We defeated Crescent Moon and-!” It occurred to him what he was doing. “My wings!” The group looked up in awe as they saw him happily flap his large Phoenix wings again. They shined brighter than they ever had before, burning brighter than the flames on his own head. 

“But… how in the cookie kingdom did we use the Elements?!” Knight questioned, seeming uninterested in Fire Spirit’s admittedly stunning wings. “We’re no spirits of harmony, we’re just normal cookies!” 

“It worked because we AREN’T normal cookies!” Peach said, beaming as she reached up and felt the crown holding her element. 

Leek raised an eyebrow. “Peachie, I’m all for fun and games, but now is not the time.” 

“No Papa, don’t you see?” She motioned across everyone. “This group got us through every challenge and demonstrated every element. We’ve always been the elements and we just haven’t known!”

“You are correct, dear Peach Cookie.” A calm, yet powerful and familiar male voice came from behind them. The group all turned to look at him and gasped.

“Millennial Tree!” 

They all called out at once, and Millie smiled sweetly. The one he mentioned beamed. “Millie!” She ran forth, and the god pulled her into a hug.

“Peach, my student, you’ve done well. I knew you had it in you to demonstrate such leadership.” Millennial tapped her crown as he said the element’s title. 

“It wasn’t just me, Millie!” She stepped out of his hold and motioned at her group- no, her friends. “We all did it! Together!” All five of them were bowing, except for the other god. Fire gave Millennial Tree a nod once his eyes were on him.

The old god smiled. “And for that, I thank every one of you. You’ve all proven yourself to be the next generation of the spirits of harmony!” The five all looked at each other happily. Their necklaces glowed with the color of their soul, their element, shining brightly in the newly raised sun. “And now that you’ve proven yourself, there is another I must speak to.” Millennial Tree looked away, and Peach followed his gaze. 

There she was. Crescent Moon, except… reformed. Her deep, voided hair had turned a midnight purple, and her red dress was blue. Her pale and sickly skin now looked perfectly baked, and her headdress was now one instead of double.  
It wasn’t Crescent Moon.  
It was Moonlight. 

Moonlight ached still on the ground, rubbing her arms in agony. She gasped when a shadow loomed over her, her eyes filling with tears at his intimidating and stern expression. “Moonlight, my fellow deity.” He announced, his expression not softening at her tears. “You were blessed with the duty to control the daylight cycle alongside me, and were robbed of that opportunity for thousands of years.” Millie kneeled next to her, taking her hand. “I wish for you to return to the city of gods and take on your duty again. But I also wish for you to explain to me what happened to make you go so rogue.”

Moonlight sobbed lightly, looking up into his eyes. She sniffled a little, before trying to speak. “E-Enchantress…” She cried, trying not to fall apart right there. “Sh-She corrupted me… she came when I was alone and took over my mind… I couldn’t hear anything except her voice for those thousand years…” She sobbed, until the taller god held her.

“Dark Enchantress came back?” He asked her. 

“Yes… she took me so fast…” She weeped.

“...Do not worry about her. I will handle her myself if she comes back again.” 

Moonlight choked up a little, standing up. “Th-thank you, Millie.” She wiped the tears from her eyes, her breath returning to normal. She heard footsteps approaching her, which she looked to. “F-Fire Spirit..?” 

The slightly taller god approached her, wings veiled again. “I haven’t seen you like this in a long time.” He said, not clearly displaying any emotion in his voice or expression.

“O-oh god…” The moon goddess choked up again. She sorrowfully ran forward, hopping up to pull the floating god down into a hug. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry… brother…” 

“Brother!?” 

Ignoring the other’s cries of confusion, he held his younger sister in his arms. “...I missed you…” 

Millennial Tree smiled sweetly, before turning to the spirits of harmony. “Leek.” He addressed one of them, he promptly looked up at him. “I believe this calls for a celebration.”

~~~~~~

The sun was shining bright, the birds chirped their happy songs, and cookies from all over cheered. Moonlight smiled widely at her “Welcome Home” party in the City Of The Millennial Tree, her heart brimming with light that cleared up the darkness that Enchantress had cursed upon her soul. As her and Millennial Tree walked down the streets, they glanced behind them quite a lot. They were checking on their special guests, valiant heroes, all dawning their formal outfits. Once they all reached the castle, they went inside for the announcement.

Millennial Tree stepped up to the pedestal first. “Cookies from all around our kingdom, it is with great pleasure that I announce that I will no longer be working the sun and moon alone. Our beloved goddess, Moonlight Cookie, is free from her dark prison, and ready to join us all again!” He announced, a wide smile on his face. Cheers erupted from the crowd, and Millie stepped down, letting Moonlight up.

“Dearest subjects, I thank you all for waiting so patiently for my return. I am happy to say that I will remain here for as long through eternity as I can to control the moon, and watch carefully over the night.” She cleared her throat, a smile grazing her face. “But I could not have completed the feat of escaping the darkness alone. I must thank these six friends, who’s many talents brought such harmony to my heart.” The goddess turned around, and the group of six stepped forth. “The honest and hardworking farmer Spinach Cookie, the kind and compassionate gardener Herb Cookie, the optimistic and wise swordsman Leek Cookie, the generous and valiant knight Custard Cookie, our loyal and brave god Fire Spirit Cookie, and last but most certainly not least, the magical and determined leader, Peach Cookie. These six performed feats of great strength, exhibited the true magic of friendship, and are worthy of the title of the current spirits- of the Elements Of Harmony!” 

The cheers erupted through the crowd as Moonlight finished her speech, stepping down from the pedestal. The spirit’s all took in the beaming crowd, every last person being proud of them. Peach was smiling at the crowd when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “So, Peach, how ya feeling now?” Leek asked joyfully, a smile smacked clear on his face. 

Peach smiled at her father, then looked down at all her friends. Her smile got wider as she saw how happy they were. Finally, she found her answer, flapping her hands.

“I’m so excited for my life here!”


	3. Talent Marks - Chapter 2

“Now class, everybody is probably wondering what today’s lesson is about!”   
The enthusiastic words came from the elementary school teacher, Mrs. Cherry Blossom. She stood in front of her bored looking class of students, a flip chart by her side. Well, mostly bored class. A singular exception to that was the young Birthday Cake, who had a bright smile on her face. Judging by the illustrations on the blackboard and the flip chart, she knew exactly what that class was going to be about. “Today, we’re going to be learning about our talent cards!” 

‘Yes!’ Birthday thought to herself, excitement radiating from her. She would finally learn what she had to do to get her talent card completed.

Cherry Blossom flipped over her chart to show a picture of herself, but just a little baby, next to a birth certificate and a card with her name and an empty circle. “Look at this card here! That’s what us in the cookie kingdom call a Talent Card!” She pointed at the empty circle, “That is the place for our Talent Marks! A talent mark is a symbol that represents our truest talent, and what we were born to do! But, you don’t just get your talent mark easily.” With that, Blossom flipped the chart again, showing a photo of herself as a teenager. “A talent mark must be discovered when fate decides to reveal it! You can’t force it, but when it appears, the magic of your passion will complete the card for you.” 

A couple kids turned around in their seats and chuckled. A young kid with a light blue and white sailor's hat looked right at Birthday Cake. “It must be so embarrassing to not have discovered your talent yet!” They teased, pulling out their talent card. It read ‘Peppermint Cookie - Sailor’ with a symbol of a seashell. 

Another kid laughed too, a young boy. “Yeah, it must be terrible to be teased and ridiculed for a blank card!” He teased as well, pulling out his talent card. ‘Soda Cookie - Surfboarder,’ complete with a talent mark of a wave.

Birthday Cake looked between the two and sighed, knowing exactly that they were referring to her. She looked down at her own talent card, ‘Birthday Cake Cookie - ____’ with an empty circle. Her card was empty, and she was the only cookie in the whole class who was like that. 

Blossom made an attempt to diffuse the situation. “Now now, kids. I know you both are excited about your new marks, but-“ 

“Yes we are!” Peppermint rudely interrupted. “And that’s why everyone in this class is invited to my ceañera celebration-“ They turned over their shoulder to meet Birthday’s eyes, “-except Birthday Cake!” 

~~~~~~

Birthday Cake had her arms crossed, moping and walking up to her big sister. “Spinach?” She asked quietly to her, who was seemingly busy picking corn stalks. 

Spinach looked over her shoulder to look at her. “Yes, Cake?”

“How… how do I finish my talent card?” She hesitantly asked, frightened of her sister's reaction. The taller threw a cob of corn into her basket before putting a hand on her hip.

“Now Birthday, you’ve asked all around the farm, we’ve all got the same answer!” The little girl sighed, knowing exactly what Spinach was about to say. “You can’t force your talent mark to appear, it comes naturally when you discover your passion-“

“That’s the exact same as what Carrot and Grandpa Pilot said!” Birthday interrupted. “I need to finish my talent card!”

“You don’t need to finish your talent card, you need to go do your work!” The farmer said, pointing away. When the young girl looked, she saw piles of vegetables that needed to be jarred and pickled. Birthday Cake sighed, and then stalked off. There was no getting through to her big sis, huh?

~~~~~~

It’d been several hours since Birthday Cake had asked Spinach about her talent card. The jars had been readied, and she was just lazing around looking at her card again. Blank.   
There was no getting through to Spinach, Carrot or Pilot. They all gave her the same answer, and she had no family that was easier to-  
“Herb!” She yelled excitedly. “I can ask Herb! He’s a big pushover!” She jumped off her chair to run off, only to be met face to face with Carrot.

“...” The taller girl stared down at her. Cake’s eyes widened, realizing she had been caught.

“I- uh… I’m just goin’ over to Herb’s! He said he had uh- plants to show me!” She stuttered weakly, the stern look on Carrot’s face not leaving. “...Can you let me through the doorway?” 

Carrot looked down at her intensely, arms crossed, before eventually sighing. “Eeyup.” Her deep female voice said it’s usual only word, as she walked away. Birthday Cake sighed, glancing around for Pilot or Spinach, before running off. 

~~~~~~

Herb rested on his couch in his little garden-like cottage, his favorite plant neatly in its pot on the desk next to him. People never really asked, so he never really told, but the plant next to him was like a comfort item. It reminded him of nature, his comfort place, so he wouldn’t part from it if he didn’t have to. Herbal Teapot, his pet and companion, laid against his chest, resting with him. They weren’t asleep, but they weren’t attentive to the outside world either.

Ding dong!

“Eep-!” The unexpected ringing of his doorbell made Herb jump, Herbal being knocked off his chest. “Oh-! Sorry Herbal, I wasn’t expecting visitors…” He mumbled. He looked at his door, seeing nobody through the window, and he got up with caution. He tucked his plant under his arm and walked to the door, carefully peeking around it…

“Brother Herb!” Birthday Cake yelled up at him, her height putting her just below the entrance’s window.

Herb sighed in relief, pushing the door open fully. “Hello, Cake... What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the farm with Spinach..?”

“I came to ask for help!” She said, ignoring the second question. “How do you get a talent mark?” 

The boy looked away thoughtfully. “Well… you can't force a talent mark-“ He stopped seeing Birthday’s expression warp to one of boredom. “But, I can show you a couple of my hobbies, maybe those’ll help…”

The little girl tilted her head. “Your hobbies? Aren't you just a farmer too?” 

Herb motioned for Birthday to come inside. “Not the way Carrot and Spinach are… come in...” 

Birthday stepped inside, hearing Herb shut the door, and she took a seat on the couch. Herb took his plant from under his arm and held it carefully in his hands, sitting next to his little sister. He held the plant in front of her, “Take a look at this…” 

“It’s just a plant. Does it grow anything?” She asked him.

He couldn’t stifle a small giggle. “No, sugarcube, this is a fern… it’s a nonflowering plant that stays like this all year round…” 

“Nonflowerin’?” She asked, the smidge of her accent shining through. “Then what’s the point? It doesn’t grow food, it ain’t a pretty flower, what’s special about it?” 

Her older brother handed her the pot. “Take a sniff, Cake…” Birthday Cake was confused, but pulled the plant close to her face, taking a sniff.

“Oh! It smells like the forest, or a big open field!”

“Exactly,” Herb started, “Plants like ferns create fresh air, it’s why this place never smells bad… and the air is so clean…” 

“I never knew that, but I guess I’m just so used to bein’ outdoors with plants that I never realized!” She looked over her shoulder and smiled brightly. “You got flowers here too?” 

Herb took his plant back from her and smiled. “Of course I do… do you like flowers, Cake?” He asked her, standing up while she got up and ran over to the cabinet they sat on. 

“They’re beautiful for decorating at parties, Herb! Of course I like them!” She beamed at him, before turning back to the pink, orange and yellow flowers.

He stood behind her, monitoring her to make sure she didn’t try to touch them. “Parties? You like… parties, Birthday..?” When she nodded without looking at him, her bright eyes still locked on the petals, he smiled. “I would recommend pursuing your talent in something you already like… like parties…” 

Birthday Cake gasped. “You’re right, big bro!” She whipped around and smiled at him, “I can ask Leek for help with some parties! He knows about them, and he can help me get my talent mark! Thanks bro!” She yelled, before pushing past him and out of the cottage.

Herb watched her leave, and sighed. Spinach would be so mad if she found out he was encouraging their little sister like that…

~~~~~~

Birthday Cake hopped through the open doorway, sliding into the party place. “Mr. Leek! I need your-“ She stopped yelling when she saw the people. “Oh- hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” 

Cheesecake and Sparkling were in the middle of carrying boxes into the back of the shop when Birthday burst in. The short, plump woman looked over at her and smiled. “Good afternoon, Birthday Cake! Are you looking for Leek?” 

Birthday nodded quickly. “Yes! I thought he lived here?” 

Sparkling chuckled, following his wife in looking at the young cookie, “He lives here too, he's on break right now. We can call him to come down if you’d like.” When the girl nodded, he glanced down at his wife. With a shared nod, they faced the ceiling. 

“LEEK!” The Cakes yelled upstairs, calling for their housemate. 

The three downstairs turned for the staircase, hearing rushing footsteps. In a few moments, the swordsman popped upside down over the stairwell. “Hiya Cakes! And Birthday Cake!” He said, his long hair almost looking like a curtain as he hung upside down.

“Hiya Mr. Leek! I need to talk to ya!” The young girl said, deciding not to ask how he was doing that. The cake’s returned to moving their boxes, deciding it wasn’t their need to hear what they had to talk about. Leek disappeared from the stairwell, before hopping down the stairs. 

“Whaddya need, lil Cake?” 

Birthday shied away slightly, hoping he wouldn’t blow her off like her farm siblings did. “Herb suggested that I look for my talent mark in a hobby I already like, and I like planning parties! So, I thought I’d come here, since you help run the party place.” She smiled.

Leek was quiet for a moment, staring down at her. Then, he grinned. “I get to help a cookie get her talent mark? Awesome! Come on!” He beamed, whipping around. Birthday followed him to another part of the party place, a large empty room. It was… illogically big for how small the outside of the building looked. 

“What’s this?” The small girl asked. 

The man crossed his arms, still smiling. “It’s the party room! Sparkling, Cheesecake and I all use it for our party types, and I’d assume cause you came to me, you want a fun one!” The girl nodded. “Alrighty! Come along!” 

Over the next, maybe hour and a half, Leek and Birthday Cake ran around the large room, in and out of smaller supply rooms, setting the room up as though for a children’s party. Round tables, with six chairs, and party hats sat neatly in front of each one. Decorative streamers, balloons, and a rectangle table with party favors in bags. Birthday Cake didn’t even need to be instructed by Leek- she was a natural at it!   
Once she was done, sweaty from all the running around, she stood by the doorway. The adult joined her soon, after putting one last decoration up. The two looked across the room, looking at their hard work. 

“Wow, Mr. Leek! You let us set up all this for practice for me?” She asked him, looking up with a smile.

He laughed, starting comedic, and going somewhat awkward. “No, silly!” He started. “You just set up for Peppermint and Soda’s ceañera!” Leek said happily, expecting Birthday to be excited for her “friend’s” party, but only seeing her face drop. “What?” 

Cake sighed, glancing away. “I’m tryin’ to get my talent mark because I’m not allowed to attend their ceañera till I get one...” She said sadly. 

Leek looked down at her, his confused face going remorseful. “I’m sorry, Cake, I didn’t know those two were like that about their party. But-“ He smiled. “You might have your mark! Check your card!” 

Birthday Cake remembered the whole reason she went there. She smiled, sticking her hand in her pocket and pulling out her talent card. Her face dropped again. Blank. “This isn’t good…” She mumbled. She would never be able to attend the ceañera… 

The swordsman looked down at her, his arms crossed. Then, he sighed. His smile dropped, though remaining slight. “Talent marks are… weird.” He started, “They don’t come when you want them to. They appear randomly for some people, and others, when they least expect it. Only some cookies can get their marks when they’re trying to get them.” He sounded like he was going to say more, but he went silent.

Cake looked over at him, surprised to see such a saddened expression from him. She’d never seen him sad like that. It made her sad too, she could feel the slight sensation of her candles going out. “...How did you get your talent mark, Leek..?” She forgot her formal words, curiosity overtaking her usual school-taught speech.   
Leek’s eyes widened, his head turning up. His childhood flowed back to him in an instant, his memory of his old family home, his sisters, and his parents. He remembered exactly how he got his talent mark, that day his young mind was too clogged to even realize it had appeared. Every sound from that day flowed back, overtaking his mind from the outside world-  
“Leek!” He was thrown straight back to reality. “Mr. Leek, your shakin’!” 

The aforementioned grabbed his wrist to his chest, finding the truth in her statement. He took a deep breath, waiting for his wrist to stop shaking in his hand. After a few moments, he sighed. “Thank you, Cake. I… went somewhere else for a minute.” He looked down at the girl, seeing her fearful expression. “My talent mark is a story for another day, missy!” Leek cheered himself up, putting on a bright smile. “Come on, we should get out of this room until it's party time.” 

Birthday didn’t DARE press further, following him out of the room. She’d never seen Leek, she’d never seen ANYONE go that panicked that fast. Once they were back in the main room, she gulped. “I… need to head home back to the vegetable farm, Mr. Leek. Thank you for letting me set up with you!” She thanked him, heading for the door. 

He looked at her and smiled. “It was my pleasure! Thank you for stopping by!” Birthday went on her way out, taking one look over her shoulder. Leek was heading up the stairs, but Cake could’ve sworn something was up. His hair was flattened against his being, almost as though it was wet, but it looked fine. It wasn’t as puffed up and piney as it usually was. The young girl felt bad, maybe she should’ve asked for the cakes help instead? She didn’t think further about it, running off further into town instead of out to the farm.

~~~~~~

Birthday Cake entered the town, gazing around without a goal. She wasn’t sure why she’d gone there, but she wasn’t ready to see her family again yet. Still no talent mark…  
In her panic to get out of the party place, she hadn’t even realized the state of her candles. Not only had they gone out, but she realized they’d started melting wax down her face when she felt it between her eyes. Was she that terrified and worried, without even knowing it? 

A shadow passed over her, making her glance up. Whatever being that went over her was already long gone, flying swiftly. Or, she thought it was, when she heard a voice behind her. “Heya Cake! What has you so mopey?” She whipped around and met a familiar face. 

“Sir Spirit!” Birthday yelled in shock, unprepared to be met with the face of a god. She grabbed her skirt and curtsied, natural courtesy for meeting a deity, before remembering the question. “I wasn’t feeling so good, so I took a walk.” 

Fire saw straight through her lie. “Kid, cookies with features like us don’t just have their flames go out for no reason. What happened?” He asked, wiping the wax off her face and flicking it away. With a few flicks of a finger, her candles lit back up. 

She was about to thank him for lighting her candles again, before realizing it was more important to answer his question. “I…” She sighed. “I couldn’t get my talent mark, even after tryin’ so hard, and now I’m the only one in my class without her talent mark and the only one not allowed to attend Peppermint and Soda’s ceañera!” She said, losing her breath at the end after saying it all in one stroke. 

Fire Spirit looked confused. “Peppermint and Soda only allow cookies with talent marks to attend their ceañera?” Cake nodded, still out of breath. “Sounds like something I’d do in middle school, extremely unfair.” 

Cake looked up, now confused too. “What?” 

The god seemed to ignore her. “So, you’re looking for a talent mark?” He asked, floating back up with his hands on his hips.

The child nodded. “Yup! I tried finding my mark in a hobby I already liked doin’, but I failed to get one when I did that, so I think it’s hopeless...” She sighed, her head dropping. 

Fire… laughed? “You can’t get your talent mark randomly, you gotta make an achievement to get one!” He said, directly contradicting what Leek had told her earlier.

Birthday was hesitant, but she asked anyways. “How did you get your talent mark, Fire Spirit?” 

He laughed again. “I’m a deity, I had my talent mark before I even knew what a talent card was. But, I was there when my niece and nephew got their talent marks.” 

Her eyes widened. “You’ve got a niece and nephew?” 

“They’re just a couple of kids, maybe your age. Moonlight’s little ones, Wizard and Cream Puff, Sea Fairy took care of ‘em while Moon herself was trapped.” Cake knew about the other deities, like Sea and Moon, but she had no idea they had kids. 

“So… they got their marks with an achievement?” 

Fire nodded. “Wizard got his when he tamed a rampant magic-made dragon with his own magic, and Cream Puff got hers when she cast a powerful enough spell to fix a dam from destroying a whole city! Now, they’re both learning more about spell-casting, though Puff is… struggling…” He said hesitantly, glancing away. 

Birthday nodded, taking what he said in. “So… I gotta make an achievement to get my mark?” She got a nod back, and then she smiled, turning away. “Thank you sir Spirit! I’ll be on the lookout for any achievements I can make-“ When she turned around, the god seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. “To… get my mark…” 

She sulked a little. How was she going to find an achievement? You can't just make a disaster happen, that’d just be wrong. She started walking for the middle of town, for a place she always went to to cheer herself up…

~~~~~~

Birthday sat weepily on the swing, barely moving. She hadn’t any idea what to do to get her mark, and the ceañera was that night… hell, she wouldn’t be able to attend the party she set up! Not even playing on the swings could cheer her up, the feeling of the wind in her pigtails did nothing to energize her.

“Hey, are you alright?” 

She heard a raspy, yet young sounding voice ask her. She looked up to see two cookies her age- a boy with spiky, blue hair and a tank top, and a kid with pale blue hair in a winter outfit. She sighed, not particularly wanting to talk to anyone. “No… not really…” 

The wintery one piped up. “What’s wrong..?” They asked quietly and politely, holding their hands in front of them. 

Cake was about to get off the swings, when the two kids got on the ones next to her. They seemed innocent and trustable, so she took a deep breath. “I’ve been spendin’ all day looking for my talent mark so that I can attend these two bullies’s ceañera, but I just can’t get it, and now I’m the only one in my class not allowed to attend it, and probably even in the whole school!” She said in one go, panting again. She really has to learn not to do that. 

The boy’s eyes widened. “You don’t have your talent mark?” He asked.

Birthday shut her eyes tight, standing up. “Yeah, and you're about to make fun of me, aren’t you?” She covered her eyes, tempted to just start running, but knowing she’d probably trip and just embarrass herself more. She heard the other two kids getting up, and then the rustling of paper.

“Hey, hey, look at this…” The quieter one said, and Cake peeked through her fingers. She gasped at what she read.

‘Snow Sugar Cookie - ____’  
‘Dino-sour Cookie - ____’ 

She went from shocked to smiling. “You guys don’t have your marks either?!” She grinned.

Dino shook his head. “Nope! And we’re also not allowed to attend Peppermint and Soda’s ceañera!” Snow nodded as well, and Cake beamed. 

“That’s amazing! I’m not alone! I thought I was the only one!” 

The boy looked away at the irony. “We thought we were the only two!” He shrugged. 

Snow Sugar got an idea. “Hey, do you want to join our group..? We look for our talent marks together, we call ourselves the true talent travelers…” They said, shyly putting their card away. 

“Would I!” She yelled, hugging her two new friends. “This is gonna be great! We’ll all find our talents together!” The three smiled happily at each other.

Two new friends, many more adventures await.


	4. Drink Night - Chapter 3

Warning: Alcohol, Really bad Spanish 

A book slammed hard on the table, joining a messy, misshapen pile. Peach had thrust it down with unnecessary force after finishing reading it, immediately moving onto the next book in another pile. She pulled it open, still using unneeded force, nearly snapping the book in half. 

Bonbon watched her do it from another spot in the library. He’d watched her do it all night. Literally, ALL. NIGHT. She hadn’t slept since the previous day, and it was now sunrise. The cookie’s hair was tangling and unbrushed, and bags under her eyes spoke clearly of how little she’d slept. The empty cups of coffee next to her tied it all together, as she grabbed for a half full one and chugged the remaining liquid.

The panda shook his head, standing up. “Peach!” He yelled at her, and she immediately turned to him. Her exhausted, empty eyes frightened him. “Stop studying and go have a nap!” He said through little fears of his closest friend. 

The girl only stared at him for a while. Then she seemed to wake up from her tired daze. “Mmgh… I don’t need it…” She groaned, turning back to her book. 

Bonbon looked at her, realizing something. “...When was the last time you blinked?” He asked, with no answer at all. He sighed, realizing he’d have to stop her himself. He walked up to the table and took her current cup of coffee, seeing her reach for it to drink only to grab thin air. 

Peach sighed, looking down at him. “Bonbon, give me my coffee.” She slurringly demanded, only to get a shake of a head. “Bonbon.” She hissed, but her assistant knew her best. She sighed and slumped forward, leaning onto the table. She was really tired, so maybe she could just… shut her eyes for a bit…

‘She’s out.’ Bonbon thought. ‘Maybe I can go into town to see what’s up, considering I have nothing else to do. Hopefully she doesn’t get mad.’ The panda snickered, before running off. He ran over to the front door, and stepped out, running off and leaving the sleeping Peach home alone.

~~~~~~

Ring ring! 

The bell of the armory rang, as Bonbon walked in. He expected to see Knight at the counter, or maybe his little sibling Snow Sugar playing, but was only met with an empty room. 

“Knight? Are you here?” The little panda called out, stepping into the building. 

“I’ll be out in a moment-!” A familiar male voice told him from the back room, and the animal knew which cookie it was. He stood patiently, waiting for it to open. The door to the back creaked open and Bonbon smiled, before seeing the state the armory owner was in.

Knight was out of armor and in a thick, blue sweater, unfamiliar to the panda. Aside from a certainly more comfortable outfit, he did not look like he was doing well. His sleepless blue eyes were bagged, his thick hair was flat and falling into his face as contrast to its usual poofiness, and his hands were coated in bandaids. Despite that, he kept on an obviously fake cheery tone, “Bonbon! How nice of you to visit!” 

The aforementioned was immediately full of a mix of concern and familiarity. “And when was the last time you slept?” 

Knight chuckled fakely. “Ah- ahaha! Ahahaaaa... morning.” Bonbon glared. “...Yesterday. Morning.” The cookie glanced away. 

The panda rolled his eyes. “Why?” He hissed. 

The cookie gritted his teeth, glancing around suspiciously, before sighing. “I’ve been up all night making orders. I have till Saturday to finish them all, and they’re for a really important client from Sugarteara! I’ve been sewing all night!” That explained the bandages. 

“...It’s Thursday.” Bonbon raised an eyebrow, making Knight look away again. “How many do you have done?” 

That seemed to take a moment to process. Bonbon could tell Knight’s tired mind was trying to work as well it could after an all nighter of nothing but work. “Eh… six out of nine..?” The warrior himself didn’t even seem sure of that. 

“You can finish the rest on Friday! You need some rest!” 

“I don’t need rest, I need to finish these!” Knight was about to turn back to the sewing room, but Bonbon stopped him.

“What about Snow Sugar? Won’t they be concerned?” 

The cookie practically scowled. “Snow Sugar’s been asleep all night. They have no idea about it-“ He looked over his shoulder at the panda. “-So I’d recommend you get out of the armory so I can finish up-!” 

“Actually Knight…” Both boys stopped and looked at the staircase, and saw where the quiet voice had come from. “I didn’t sleep much, I could hear the sewing machine from upstairs… and I was really worried about you…” 

The older man opened up his mouth to talk, but saw Bonbon giving him the smug “I told you” face. He scoffed and crossed his arms. “Snowy, go back upstairs. Bonbon-“ Knight bit his lip for a moment, finding words he could say with a child present, “Be a darling and go bother someone else.” 

He didn’t need to hear it twice. Bonbon turned around to leave, hearing Knight return to the sewing room, but didn’t hear Snow go up the stairs. He looked as much as he could over his shoulder, and the child was hesitantly standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Worried about your brother?” The panda asked quietly, but it was likely the oldest male couldn’t hear either of them over the sound of the already starting up sewing machines. 

To his surprise, Snow Sugar shook their head. “...I’m hungry, but Knight doesn’t trust me in the kitchen alone…” Bonbon knew that feeling. 

The panda got an idea. “Do you wanna come with me to the party place? We can pick up some breakfast pastries.” 

They were hesitant for a second, but smiled. “Sure… we need to be quick before Knight finds out I left though…” They hopped down the last step, then followed Bonbon out of the armory door.

~~~~~~

The young cookie and the panda walked down the hamlet roads, following the familiar route to the party place. The town was very empty, for reasons unknown to the two of them. Usually, the hamlet was brimming with cookies despite its seemingly small population, but today the streets were barren. 

“What happened..?” Snow Sugar asked what Bonbon was thinking. It was unusual. Sure, it was a bit cloudy, but that was no reason for…

“Cloudy… cloudy- today was supposed to be a sunny day!” The shortest yelled out, smacking his paws together. It was supposed to be sunny that day after a huge storm yesterday. 

Snow nodded. “That’s weird… we should ask someone on the weather team…” They said quietly, looking up. The two of them stopped, and the cookie cupped their hands in front of their mouth. “Excuse me-!” They started. “Why is it cloudy today..?” They asked as loudly as they could, loud enough for the closest member of the weather team to hear them.

Bonbon was surprised when Fire Spirit poked his head over the nearest individual cloud. “Fire? You’re on the weather team?” 

The one high above them groaned. “Not usually.” He rolled his eyes and looked away, leaning on his hand. “I helped them clear up the big storm yesterday, and we were supposed to rest today-“ He turned over his shoulder to glare at another flying cookie, “-But SOMEBODY accidentally let the clouds out, and now we ALL need to work overtime! And I’m not even on the team!” When he said that, Bonbon took a better look at him. He did look tired, his fire wasn’t burning that bright and the slight darkness under his eyes showed that he didn’t get much of a break between last night’s storm clean-up, and that day's overtime. 

“Jeez, is there anyone today who’s not stressed out..?” The panda mumbled, mostly to himself.

“Oh… that’s unfortunate, I hope you all get done soon…” Snow Sugar sympathized, shyly looking down. They were scared of adults when they were grumpy. 

The god scoffed. “So do I.” And with that, he disappeared back behind his cloud. Bonbon and Snow gave each other a look, their mutual concern for their friends obvious, before continuing towards their destination.

~~~~~~

The two arrived in front of the shop door. “Oh my… it’s been so long since I’ve had a pastry for breakfast, maybe I’ll be allowed to get a little sugar this time..?” Snow Sugar smiled, glad their older brother wasn’t there. Bonbon was glad to see them happy, understanding the feeling of being restricted. 

The panda opened up the door and the bell chimed. “Lee-!” He started to call out, before stopping. Leek whipped around the second the bell started, putting a finger to his lips. He was on the phone. Bonbon and Snowy looked at each other, having a similar “Is it this again?” look. The two walked up to the counter and waited for the man to finish his call, being decent enough to be patient.

Leek didn’t seem to want to make them wait, however. He grabbed a notepad and pen and placed them on the counter, motioning for the two to write down what they wanted so he could get them on call. The two young ones shared a look again, before grabbing the items, getting ready to write their orders. They couldn’t help but hear what the oldest cookie was on the phone about, and it was something about a bunch of parties that had to be planned in the next few weeks. When he spoke, the swordsman had on a fake happy tone, which didn’t reach his eyes or his face even. His expression was tired and down, and it was almost scary how he could mask it in his voice. The little ones had no place to pry, but knew he was stressed.

Despite their concerns, the two wrote down their orders. Snowy wrote for “Chocolate chip croissant with powdered sugar” in neat handwriting, and Bonbon wrote “Boston creme donut” in an equivalent to chicken scratch. They put the objects back down and let the tallest pick them up, trying to multitask his focus on both his call and his task at hand. Leek had to take his glasses from his collar and put them on to read presumably what Bonbon wrote, before putting them down again and heading to the back.

Once he was gone, Snow looked down at the panda. “Is there anyone who isn’t stressed right now..?” They whispered, getting a shrug back. “They’ve all been so tired, it’s saddening…”

The shortest looked up at the calendar behind the counter. It was mainly for staff, and they used green, orange and yellow to represent each worker’s schedule. By the looks of it, all of their schedules were packed- only the next three days were free, and then there were lines of all three colors across each day for the next week. Despite not understanding the stress fully, it made Snow Sugar and Bonbon wince.

Leek came out from the back, still on a call and manifesting a fake happy tone, with a paper bag with the party place’s logo on it. He placed it on the counter, and the two young ones paid, Snow taking the paper bag and leaving without a word. As they left, Leek didn’t stop talking on the phone for a second. How did he get so good at that..?

The second they were out the door, Sugar immediately took their croissant out of the bag and took a huge bite out of it. “Snow Sugar? Why so rushed?” Bonbon asked as the cookie chewed and swallowed quickly, and for a second the panda thought they would choke.

“I want to get through this before I need to go home. Knight’ll get mad at me if he found out I was having sugar and chocolate so early...” They said, stuffing another oversized bite of the pastry into their mouth and getting powdered sugar on their face.

“You don’t have to go now. We’ve barely been out ten minutes, and he’ll probably be too focused on his work to notice.” He reassured them, and they seemed to ponder that.

“Maybe… do you want to go see Ms. Spinach while we eat..?” They asked, slowing down while eating.

“Sure thing, buddy!” 

~~~~~~

The duo arrived at the farm and looked across the fields. They were half harvested, and a blaze of green and another blaze of orange were running around and harvesting as fast as they seemingly could. Bonbon took his donut out of the bag and started eating, while Snow Sugar pointed at the two girls running around. “...What are they doing..?” They asked quietly, having finished their croissant out of habit. 

“I’m not sure…” The panda replied with food in his mouth, watching the two run around with interest and worry. He swallowed hard and started waving. “SPINACH! CARROT! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?” He cupped his paws in front of his mouth and yelled, the two girls stopping in their tracks.

The tired voice of Spinach came back. “WHA-AT?” She yelled, apparently not having heard what was said from far away.

The two glanced at each other. Oh no. They ran down to the crops where they were harvesting, and easier realized that both girls were carrying around crates of newly harvested vegetables. “What are you two doing?” Asked the panda in a quieter tone.

Spinach shot a look over at Carrot, and she got a look back. They both had dark circles under their eyes and sweat dripping down their faces, breathing heavily. The taller turned back to the two again. “Whaat?” She asked again.

Snow Sugar’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you two okay?” They forgot about the original question.

The oldest glanced over at her younger sister with a questioning glance. “Er uh… we’re uh…”

“Eeyup.” Carrot finished tiredly and slowly.

“Yeah. That.” Spinach put on a smile. “Why wouldn’t we be… okay?” She said, as though forgetting what the word was. “We’re out here in the fields, getting our work done. We got all o’ that harvested!” As she motioned over at the field, the two youngest could see rows and rows of harvested crops. Around half of the entire farm. 

“Woah… how long have you two been working?” Bonbon asked.

“Bright and early since six am!” The farmer said with a jolly tone.

“SIX AM?!” The two yelled. It was around noon when they left the party place. “And you two have taken breaks, right?” Bonbon finished.

Both farmers looked at each other again. Carrot spoke, “Nnnnope.” She said, somewhat regrettably. 

Spinach shook her head. “What she said. We gotta get the whole farm harvested today to make time to pay our debt to Sea Fairy tomorrow morning.” Ah yes. Sea Fairy, Peppermint’s mother. Rich, a side effect of being a well respected goddess, but not quite as spoiled as her child. She must’ve had debt with the vegetable family to help them water their plants. 

“Oh… that must be stressful…” Snow said sadly, looking down.

The tallest nodded. “It is. And that means y’all might wanna let us back to work.” She said with a slight stern tone, turning around to kick… a tomato plant. “Oops.” 

The two kids looked at each other, before turning around, going on their way to leave the farm.

~~~~~~

The quiet forest surrounding the cottage was still, silent, and it was the same with the cottage itself. Silent. Bonbon and Snow Sugar strolled up the stone path, deciding on visiting Herb just to see all of their friends. Snowy knocked on the door, hearing bunches of animals start up. The two expected the gardener himself to open the door, but instead, the door opened. They saw no cookies, but they did get met with a pet. 

“Huh? What are you doing here?” In the doorway stood a pet they’d never met before, but was definitely a pet. 

The small, gumdrop shaped animal squeaked, seemingly calling for it’s owner. The kids glanced at each other as the pet retreated back into the cottage, and after a few minutes, someone else appeared in the doorway. Herb smiled down at the young ones. “Oh, Snow, Bonbon, hello.” He greeted, his signature fern in his arm.

The two seemed to be examining him closely. His brown eyes were full of life, his face was its usual color, and he seemed joyful. They were glad someone was doing well. “Hello Herb! May we come in?” Bonbon asked, seeing the gardener glance away for a moment.

“Oh, uh… in a moment…” He turned around and shut the door slowly, turning back to the cottage.

The kids looked at each other. “Is he okay..?” Snow asked, getting a shrug. 

After a few minutes, Herb called out to them. “Come in..!” 

The kids opened the door and entered the cottage, seeing Herb with his pet on the couch. The two joined him, and he looked over at them. “What are you two here for..?” 

“We’re just glad you’re alright… Peach was over studying, Knight was overworking, Fire is overworking, Leek’s schedule is packed, and Spinach and Carrot have been harvesting since six am!” Bonbon yelled, feeling bad for his friends.

“Oh dear… that’s unfortunate…” The gardener said as much as he could think. “...Maybe I could arrange for us to do something tonight…” 

Snowy perked up. “Do something..?” They tilted their head.

“Oh, nothing you two should think about… just a break for my friends…” He looked over at the door to his bedroom, before looking out the window. 

Bonbon opened his maw to talk, but was interrupted. “Herb..? Can I come out..?” A little girl spoke up from around the bedroom doorway. The adult whipped around, the two kids looking past him, and they saw the young cookie. She had bouncy, short yellow hair, heterochromic eyes packed with a blue and a brown, and a soft pink cape on her shoulders. Her expression dropped when she saw the people in the room. “Oh my…” 

Herb stood up before Snowy or Bonbon could say anything. “Mochi, don’t worry… you can come here.” The little girl, apparently named Mochi, stepped around the door and hid behind the tallest. 

“Mochi?” Snowy asked, looking at the cookie. She seemed frightened, but nodded at her name.

“Bonbon, Snow Sugar, this is Mochi… she was sent to the Happy Healthy Hamlet from Frostbite Lodge yesterday to come to the school, and she’s staying with me until she returns…” Bonbon chuckled as she still remained behind his leg. Mochi certainly seemed like she’d be his kid. “Mochi, this is Bonbon and Snow Sugar, two of my friends’s friends…” 

“Hi…” She said quickly, not looking away from the other two. She seemed to be trying not to cry. “Um… Herb, can I go back to the other room..?” She asked.

“Of course you can, Mochi.” With that, Mochi turnt around, running away and back into the room she came from. He looked back at Bonbon and Snow Sugar. “You two should go, I’ve got plans to make and a little girl to handle…”

The panda and little cookie nodded in sync, before walking away and leaving the cottage. Herb sighed. That certainly wasn’t how he wanted to introduce the child…

~~~~~~

It was several hours later, around sunset. Five blindfolded adults and one leading them strode up to the large building, all but the leader being confused.

“Herb, where are we going?” Knight asked, picking at his blindfold. He was the slightest annoyed, as he had allowed himself a brief break from his work, and was planning on getting back to it before the aforementioned cookie had picked him up.

“You’ll see...” Was Herb’s sly reply, and he turned around to find them at their destination. “Oh, here we are… you can take your blindfolds off…” Taking her orange blindfold off, Peach looked up at the building.

“The… titty typhoon?” She asked. She hadn’t really been through that part of downtown, and she hadn’t known about… what was either a strip club or a bar.

As Leek took his purple blindfold off, he recognized the name. “Oh, I’ve been here before! It’s just a bar, they only serve alcohol and party snacks!” He called out, and his daughter questioned the name of the place internally.

“Hold on-“ The god flapped his arms, “You heard that all of us were stressed today, and you decide to take us… to get drunk?” 

Herb held his plant in front of his mouth and glanced away. “Well… yes…” He mumbled. “I’m not having any myself… I have to...” He stopped talking when he remembered that the others still hadn’t been introduced to Mochi. 

Fire Spirit rolled his eyes, but shrugged. “I guess I don’t mind… I haven’t had alcohol in a good fifty years, maybe this’ll be nice.” 

“Fifty?! That long without even a drip of anything?” Spinach looked up at him and yelled. She could remember the last time she had gotten drunk, which had been a while. Oh, but the taste of that exotic homemade liquor and some malibu were ones she’d remember forever, maybe she could get her hands on some that night… 

“Fifty years is like, nothing! It’s as though I’d gone only a few months!” He dismissed her quickly, but also imagined the taste of alcohol. Rum or some red wine would be nice… 

Peach sighed. “Well, there’s not a moment to stall, I suppose.” She said, opening the swinging door to the bar. Immediately she was blasted with bright lights and a lot of noise, which immediately put her a little on edge. “Or, actually, maybe I shouldn’t…” She took a step back.

Her dad put a hand on her shoulder as he stood next to her. “It’ll be alright Peachie, I’ll be right here with you if you need to step out.” He smiled, and she looked up at him. Then, she smiled too. Thank goodness her father understood that she was the sensory avoidant type. 

Fire Spirit floated past both of them and into the bar. “Poggers.” Aaaand there goes the sensory seeking one…

The remaining five quickly entered the building and found their seats at the bar, ending up on the side. Peach glanced around nervously, all of the noise being enhanced by being inside. Leek, who was next to her, could notice her start getting shaky. He reached into his pocket and pulled out foldable earmuffs, showing them to his daughter. She looked hopefully at him, and her eyes widened, before she smiled. She took the earmuffs and opened them up, putting them on. It muted out the background noise, but still allowed her to hear her friends and anyone next to her. She nodded thankfully up at Leek, and he nodded back.

The bartender, an unfamiliar dark cookie, strode up to the group. “How many?” They asked, showing a notepad to write down what everyone was gonna request. 

“Six.” Herb replied, pointing at each member of the group, and the cookie nodded.

“Mmhm, ID’s?” They seemed tired, as though they’d done that all night. Though, they probably had. Everyone placed their ID’s down without fuss, and the bartender checked over each one, but paused when they saw Fire Spirit’s and the incredibly long ago date of birth. “Sir, I know a forged ID when I…” The words stopped in their throat when they looked at Fire for the first time. “I… my apologies, lord.” They cleared their throat at the sheer awkwardness and guilt they immediately felt, before bowing, the common courtesy when meeting gods.

The amused god chuckled. Though, it wasn’t the first time someone assumed that his ID was forged. “Not a problem.” He waved his hand and dismissed it, and the bartender cleared their throat, before checking the next person over’s ID.

After a few minutes of everyone going through the typical bar interactions, they all finally got their drinks. Herb hadn’t gotten alcohol, he only got a small glass of sparkling water, which he was quite fine with. Spinach had gotten malibu like she’d craved earlier, and Fire Spirit had done the same, ordering… notably hard red wine. Knight didn’t want much. He wanted to be able to get home and still be stable enough to check on Snow Sugar, so he got a much easier and much smaller amount of white wine for himself. And… a little secret only to himself, he liked spinning the liquid inside the wine glass. Peach had actually never drank before, with the exception of her twenty first birthday party, when she had a singular shot of vodka and nothing else. She asked the bartender what would be good for a first time drinker, and they said they’d get it for her in a moment. Meanwhile, next to her, was her dad. Leek just got a tall glass of bubbling beer and left it at that. 

The swordsman was the first to start drinking, aside from Herb, who had already started taking small sips of his sparkling water. Leek took a big swig of his drink, getting a concerned look from the god in the seat next to him. Peach was too distracted wondering what the bartender would get her to notice.

“Don’t you think you should slow down?” Fire Spirit raised an eyebrow. 

Leek shook his head. “What does it matter? Tomorrow is my only spare day before a line of parties stretching out of the month!” He said, surprising the taller.

Giving the other a grin, Spirit raised his bottle. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” He yelled, before taking a just as big drink of red wine. Once he took it down, he turned it to the other. “Cheers?” 

A smile. “Cheers!” The swordsman said with glee, clinking his beer glass with the god’s wine bottle. The two took their second large gulps in sync. 

Knight glared at them from across the bar. Their carelessness with the alcohol reminded him of his old group of warriors, and the way they didn’t hesitate to get wasted after a long battle. Admittedly, he did get roped in and start doing the same after a while, but moving to the hamlet shifted his responsibilities, especially once his little sibling had to live with him. To go from a valiant knight on the battlefield to a designer who’s only worry was a deadline… it’d changed his demeanor more than he’d expected. Knight only took small sips of his white wine, slowly starting to lose himself into the memories of his old group. And only his old group, not the battles he fought with them…

On the seat next to him, and not the empty seat that separated their group from the next one, was Spinach. She was happily drinking her malibu, daydreaming much happier than the man next to her was. She thought about the farm, her family. She asked Herb if Carrot could come with them to the, at the time, mystery location, but he declined. Now that she thought about it, Spinach realized why. Carrot refused to drink alcohol her whole life, muchlike Herb, so it made sense that he didn’t bother asking her to come. 

For a moment, she pondered the future. She’d find a wonderful guy or gal, and she’d continue the family lineage of farmers. Not only that, but she questioned the future of that group. Spinach… the element of honesty. Part of the six elements of harmony, those that could stop disasters that threatened everyone… Was she really one of them? 

She looked over at Knight. The element of generosity. And the one who saved her from that rushing river the first day they formally met…   
And if she was embracing her element, quite the cutie as well. His blue eyes shone in the bar light as he stared distantly into nothing, absentmindedly drinking his wine.   
After a few moments of Spinach just… it looked like somewhat creepy staring to others, but she was more… admiring him, she noticed that his eyes were going wide. Knight still stared into nothing without acknowledging her, and still robotically drank his wine, but his eyes looked panicked. Scared. 

The farmer slowly put her hand on his shoulder, being careful. He blinked himself into reality a couple times, before turning to the girl addressing him. “You okay, partner?” 

He looked distantly at her, his eyes still wide and shaken, before he finally seemed to really snap back to normal. “I was zoning out…” He said under his breath, “Yeah. I’m fine.” Knight looked back to… nothing. He wasn’t quite sure where to look now that he’d been snapped out of it. 

Spinach let out a quick chuckle. “Good. It ain’t nice to see a pretty face like yours so panicked.” There’s something she wouldn’t say sober. 

“What?” It wasn’t a flustered “What?”, it was a “What the fuck did you just say to me mother fucker” what. Knight looked back to her the second she spoke, and for a moment she thought she’d flustered him, only to see plain confusion.

“I said-“

The warrior interrupted her. “No, I heard you, just- what?” 

She stared at him, purely shocked by his sheer oblivion. She turned away and grabbed her malibu. “Nevermind.” She said quickly, before taking a gulp of the coconut tasting liquid. Knight stared at her for a moment, before shrugging and drinking some more of his own drink.

Peach looked down at the drink in front of her. The bartender told her it was whiskey and rum mixed with ginger ale, and was good for beginners to alcohol like her. She hesitantly picked up the glass it was in and took a small drink, expecting it to taste like the vodka shots she had when she turned twenty one, but to her surprise, it tasted… decent. She grabbed it and took a normal sip of it, really taking in the taste that time. Maybe she wouldn’t quite mind drinking…

Next to her, Leek and Fire were still drinking in large gulps. The bar was cramped, so the seats were very close to each other, and the two men seemed to be taking advantage of that, as they had their arms over each other’s shoulders. Herb watched them drink together, before saying drunk words to each other which the gardener was too far away to hear. And then they’d start again, drinking away their worries. 

After a few minutes of that, they’d both finished their large drinks. The two put their empty bottle and mug down and took their arms away from each other, looking away from each other. Herb almost thought that something occurred to them once they finished, but he shook the thought off. Leek quickly requested another mug of beer and looked away, starting to stare into the distance and straightening his posture. Meanwhile with Fire, he requested the same, another bottle of hard red wine.   
Despite their similar actions, their thoughts were not the same. 

Leek looked away, and such closeness with another cookie reminded him of… things. It’d been a while since he had sensual contact with another person, and it made him remember his husband. Oh, did he miss Jujube… he was the only person the swordsman felt such a strong love for, and now he remained a lone widower. Thinking of his late husband's death made him think of… the war… 

Next to him, the god was also looking distant. But his thoughts weren’t clear or coherent. There was a song in one part of his head, random quotes from plays in another part, and his childhood in the last part. Many thoughts, head full. “Pitaya ese hijo de puta…” He mumbled to himself. “Sin excepción del lado de Moonlight, bebé llorando... Me pregunto si podría saltar de esa mesa…” The words weren’t understandable to anyone next to him. After a minute, his bottle of red wine and Leek’s beer arrived at the table. He looked at the swordsman after grabbing the bottle, and then noticed… light streaks of tears running down his face. “Are you bueno?” Fire said with concern, forgetting the English word for his concerns.

Leek choked down some tears. “I’m alright.” He said shakily, taking a quick drink of his beer. The god didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, and he put himself next to the shorter again, placing a hand on his side. The swordsman took a quick inhale, trying to hold himself together.

“You sure?” That broke him. The widower burst into tears and wrapped his arms around Spirit, sobbing into his shoulder. Immediately confused, and getting stung by the tears hitting his body, the god was about to push him away… but the pure desperation and melancholy in the other’s weeps stopped him. He looked down at the other, before biting his lip. As Leek sobbed, the taller unveiled his wings, wrapping his right one over his friend and clamping the other one against his body. The warmth of the blazing wings was comforting to the widower. “Hey, hey, it’s okay…” Fire Spirit said, ignoring the painful tears hitting his shoulder. The swordsman didn’t say anything, he only cried, shutting his eyes and letting tears fall out.

Herb, sitting next to the two men, silently drank his sparkling water and decided it wasn’t his place to ask. On the other side of the two, Peach decided that Fire could handle her father himself. Though, she did stare, knowing she hadn’t seen her dad in such weakness. Maybe it was just his drunk thing.

On the other end of the group, Knight and Spinach were unaware of that all. They had simple, small exchanges, only little things and Spinach sneaking a flirt in, which a certain oblivious warrior missed.

“Do you want to know something, Spinach?” Knight said suddenly, getting her attention.

“Go on, baby.” 

“I… don’t actually like white wine that much.” He slipped, “I just like spinning it around in the glass. I prefer shit with vodka.” The curse wasn’t intended, but it still slid out. Despite his words, he drank more of his white wine, gulping it down hard.

“If you don’t like white wine, why didn’t you order something with vodka?” The farmer asked, her intentions of flirting with him drifting away as he told his secret.

He groaned. “Too much alcohol.” He said gruffly. If she remembered correctly, Spinach did know that vodka had a much higher alcohol level than white wine. “Though, you should’ve seen me with my old team. Those fuckers could drink vodka like it was water.” Knight said, chuckling. He knew he was the same back then, though not as rough as his teammates. 

“Why don’t you tell me about your old team?” The taller tried to pry a little further while the other would still speak. 

A groan made it seem like it wouldn’t come, but he still spoke. “My guild back in the central part of the kingdom was made of some of the strongest cookies you’d ever meet.” He said, in contrast to his groan. “Those cookies could fight, and they fought alright. Whether they practiced with each other, or we were truly on the battlefield, their vigor never left them. We battled the invaders of the kingdom, against our own bodies… hell, I was nothing compared to some of them.” 

“Can you tell me about anyone specific?” Spinach pried further.

Knight didn’t hesitate. “Pistachio.” He said the name of his old friend. “If she wasn’t a warrior for the history books, I don’t know who goddamn is. She fought through every battle I’d ever seen her in, and she’d almost always win. That girl had a heart of gold and muscles of stone, truly a gem if you were close with her.” He rambled, the slightest smile forming on his face. After a moment, it turned to a frown. “But, it was… unfortunate what happened to her.” 

“What happened to her?” Spinach asked, not thinking twice as she sipped her malibu.

Knight took a large sip of his white wine, frowning as he gulped it down and finished the glass. “Pistachio won almost every battle she had. Almost.” He repeated himself from earlier, “She gained special intel on the enemy. She ended up finding a bomb planted on the battlefield and getting caught directly in the blast,” He gagged for a moment, the image he was about to describe haunting his thoughts, “She was all broken and mangled when we found her. We didn’t know how, but she was still conscious. The last battle she ever fought was one against herself, to stay alive until one of us idiots could help her-“ He choked up on his words as the memories rushed back to him, trying to get the breath in him to finish, “-And it was the only fucking battle I ever saw her lose.”   
Spinach couldn’t find anything to say. Knight let out choked sobs as he put his fist against his mouth, muttering to himself. All she could hear was a “Damnit… god, fucking damnit…”

She couldn't blame him. He’d watched his friend die. He watched a life get lost before him. As he cried, Spinach looked away. She tried to think of something to say, anything. She decided to say the only thing she could.   
“Do you want to go home, Knight?” She asked.

The one being addressed looked up at her, the tears in his eyes falling freely. She had on a sympathetic and caring look, and for a moment, he could tell she genuinely cared. He nodded slowly, “Yes…” He choked out, “I don’t think I want any more alcohol…” 

“Okay…” Spinach stood up and helped the other up from his stool, before looking at the rest of the group. “Alright gang, I’m takin’ him to his place. I’ll probably be going back to the farm too.” She told everyone, getting nods from Herb and Peach. She let Knight support himself over her shoulder, despite her not being the most stable to walk either, and the two left the bar.

Around that time, Leek had also started pulling himself together. Fire had grown numb to the watery tears, deciding his friends sadness was more important than his own pain. The swordsman pulled himself off of the taller’s shoulder, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, heaving a deep sigh. “You doing any better..?” The god asked down at him, getting a nod.

“Yeah… thank you Spirit, I got a little emotional…” 

The aforementioned cookie smiled at him. “Don’t mention it.” He replied, taking his wing away from the other and clamping it back against himself. 

Leek reached for his beer and took a small sip, a little hesitant, but he decided he wouldn’t try to go alone with his thoughts again. He held the mug and turnt to his side again. “Cheers..?” He shrugged hopefully.

Fire Spirit let out a small chuckle, grabbing his wine bottle by the neck. “Cheers.” 

Clink!

As the two men returned to their drinks and small talk, Herb got up and switched to the seat next to Peach. “How are you..?” He asked, watching her drink slowly from her mixed beverage. 

“I’m holding up. Might head home soon, though.” She replied, not turning to face her friend.

“Yeah, I get that… I should wait to help one of those two when they need to leave, though…” He said, pointing a finger over at the two happy men.

“I’ve never seen papa cry like that.” She admitted. “I wonder how I’d get if I got as drunk as that.” 

Herb chuckled at the thought of Peach but wasted. “Nothing good, I’m sure…” 

CRASH!

Both young adults looked over at the sound’s source. Fire Spirit had attempted to stand up. Keyword being attempted, as he had tripped down onto the floor after trying to get up. “You alright?” Leek asked, looking down at him. 

“Yup-“ The god hissed, pushing himself up with his arms. He stood up and stabilized himself, surprised he hadn’t caught the attention of any other bar patrons. Though, maybe it was normal for people to be stumbling around. “I need to use the restroom. I think I’ll be heading home for the night once I’m out.” He said, and that’s when Herb noticed the empty wine bottle. Had the god really drank two entire bottles of hard red wine?

Peach gave the tallest a thumbs up. “Same thoughts here. I suppose we’ll leave as we came.” Fire gave a thumbs up back, turning around to head to the back- before promptly stumbling to the floor again. “...Need some he-“

“No.” 

The three watched the god give up on walking and have the common sense to float, moving past the group. Leek turned over to his daughter, hiccuping. “Man, I- haven’t gotten that drunk in- a while..!” He said, covering his mouth with his sleeve and wiping some leftover beer off his face. 

“What do you mean ‘that drunk,’ you’re still practically wasted.” His daughter replied, raising an eyebrow. 

Leek shrugged. “Oh, you know what I meant!” He waved his hand in dismissal. 

After a few minutes of filler conversation, the god came back, joining the group again. All three remaining stood up and left as a group, Peach glad to be out of the crowded bar.

It was time to go home.


	5. !!Chapter Indicators!!

hi i forgot to put this here before I started the actual series but  
chapter indicators!!! so that you know what chapters are what

(L) - Long “Episode” - Two or more parts  
(O) - Oneshot “Episode”  
(S) - Special “Episode” - Noncanon tomfoolery or horror

yeah that’s all  
it’s like 1am so-


	6. (O) Family Bonding Day - Chapter 4

Warning: Blood, death

It was a quiet, still day in the forest. Herb was alone in the cottage, or, mostly alone. Mochi was in the room, sitting on the floor and drawing. Her pet, the Sour Gumdrop, had placed itself on her yellow hair and was watching her. Meanwhile, Herb was also with his pet, who he was feeding water. 

CRASH!

Both Herb, Mochi, and their pets looked to the source of the noise- the door. And also the one who caused the door to slam so hard against the wall- Spinach. “YEEHAW PART-“ 

The farmer stopped in her tracks when she saw the full scene, including the kid on the floor. “...Herb, did you kidnap this child?” She pointed down at the little girl, making her hide behind her paper, and Herb sighed.

“No, Spinach… that’s Mochi.” He said, still giving the Herbal Teapot water. 

Mochi looked up and gave a small wave. “Hi…” 

The woman who’d slammed the door open decided to chock it up to her brother had a daughter without telling her and leave it at that. “Well, anyways, Herb! Do you know what day it is?” 

“...Wednesday..?” He shrugged, before motioning his pet to leave. The little girl decided to take that moment to grab her pet and her art, running off to the other room.

Spinach chuckled. “No, silly! It’s family bonding day!” 

Her brother's heart sank in his chest. “Wait- thats today..? Today-today?” He said in confusion, getting a nod back. “Oh dear… I thought it was next week…” He mumbled.

“Well it’s today! So come on with me!” Spinach said, progressing into the cottage. 

“We’re going to the farm..!” Herb said more in panic than confusion. His sister grabbed his arm and hoisted him up, making him a little dazed from the sudden movement. 

As he slowly got the static out of his head, Spinach leaned on his shoulder. He was used to being used as an armrest, but that didn’t make it any less irritating. “No time to be vitamin D deficient! You’re coming to the farm to join the rest of the family!” 

The gardener gulped. It was gonna be a long day…

~~~~~~

The virtually silent noise of pages flipping echoed around the library. Peach skimmed through the book she held, looking for a specific part. 

“Ah, here it is!” She yelled in victory, getting the attention of the panda across the room. “Holidays in the month of May!” She read off the heading, before glancing across the page to find what she was looking for. That particular day was one she didn’t think was any holiday, but it was still good to check. As she scanned for the current Wednesday, Bonbon walked over and pulled himself up to see the book. 

“Family bonding day..?” He questioned when Peach’s finger reached that day.

“I think it’s just what the name says! A day for bonding with your family!” She snapped the book shut and handed it to Bonbon, who walked off to put it back on its shelf. “Oh man, if only Plum was here! I could see him and catch up with what’s happening recently!” 

The panda put the book in its place and shrugged, turning around. “You could go see your dad, you haven’t really watched him work. Maybe you can bake with him?” That made Peach stand up from her seat. 

“You’re right, Bon! Hopefully he’s not busy today.” She picked up her staff and used magic to float the books into a pile. “Can you put these away while I’m out?” 

Bonbon saluted, “Yes ma’am!” He said, running over to the books.

“Thank you bud! I’ll be back in a few hours!” With that, she put her weapon on her back and walked to the front door, leaving her assistant alone.

As she stepped out the door and saw the sun in the sky, she almost thought she saw the moon too. But wasn’t that impossible? Only rarely was the sun and moon out, and that was when something was wrong with Millennial Tree’s magic. But now Moonlight was back, so he had no control over the moon…  
Peach squinted at the moon in the distance and it’s half moon shape… before realizing it wasn’t the moon- it was Moonlight herself! She was going upwards to the sky, and someone else was with her, but the martial artist couldn’t tell who. She shrugged. I guess she’ll never know.

With that out of the way, she turned around, heading for the party place.

~~~~~~

Herb was dragged to the farmland by his sister, every moment of which he was dreading. Yes, he loved his family, but the farm life wasn’t one he was strong enough for. And he knew they were gonna make him work as hard as the rest of them, or as hard as he could.

There was one relief, though. “Herb! Herb!” It was his little sister. Birthday Cake was excited, it wasn’t often she could spend the day with her brother. 

He smiled. When he wasn’t working for his older sisters, he could spend time with his younger one. Though, he wasn’t sure where the other cookie he could spend family time with was. Carrot stood with Birthday Cake by the crops, and Spinach continued to drag him to the rest of the girls.

Once they arrived, the oldest sister let go of him and pushed him towards the younger two. “You ready to spend the day with us, bro?” 

“No...” He mumbled, and Spinach slapped his shoulder.

“Buck up, Herb! Carrot and I’ll lighten up the load for you!” She pointed her thumb at her younger sister.

“Eeyup.” Carrot nodded. Herb looked between his sisters and then at the crops, before gulping. He knew that that wouldn’t be true for long.

~~~~~~

Stalking up to the party place, Peach opened up the door, hearing the bell. “Mr and Mrs Cake! Hello!” She greeted as she saw the couple behind the counter.

Sparkling put a box of supplies down and waved at her. “Good day, Peach. Are you here to pick up an order?” 

She shook her head. “No, is my dad here?” 

Cheesecake looked over at the staircase, before turning back to the younger woman. “I think so, dearie! Leek should be up in his space, I think he’s making new recipes right now.” 

The martial artist stepped into the shop, “Thank you, Mrs. Cake!” She was gonna proceed upstairs, before pausing. “Shouldn’t you guys be spending the day with each other? It’s family bonding day.” 

The man shook his head. “No, we’re busy setting up a new room in the back.” 

Peach was intrigued. “A new room? For what?” 

The woman chuckled. “For the babies, of course!” She said, holding up a box of toys.

The other girl gasped. “You two are expecting?! Congratulations!” 

The couple nodded. “You should go find your father now, we’re a tad busy.” Cheesecake said, and Sparkling picked his box back up, heading to the back.

Peach ran up the stairs and to the next level of the party place, looking for her dad's space. She knocked on the door with a painted on symbol of a leek and waited for the response that quickly came. “Who is it?” Leek yelled from inside the room.

“Papa, it’s me!” She yelled, hoping her dad could recognize her by voice. 

She could hear him get out of- or more, stumble clumsily- his chair, and in a moment the door swung open. “Peachie!” He greeted happily, hugging his daughter. “Hello! What are you doing here?” He asked. 

“Papa, don’t you know? It’s family reunion- no, family bonding day!” Leek put her down with a gasp, putting his hand over his mouth.

“Oh my god, it is! We can spend the day together!” He.

“Yeah! I thought we could bake together!” Excitement coursed through her body as she suggested what was her assistants idea, but she claimed it as her own.

“We can do that! Come on!” He turned the corner of his doorway a little too quickly, and fell flat on his face. “Oops!” He picked himself up again and back to his feet, and his daughter chuckled, before running down the stairs.

“Last one to the kitchen is a rotten lentil!” 

“FIRST one to the kitchen is a rotten lentil!”

“Hey!” 

~~~~~~

While the martial arts dad and daughter had their little pow-wow, things didn’t go so well with the plants…

“Come on Herb, pull! Use that man strength!” 

“I don’t haaave man strength..!” The exchange happened between Spinach and her brother, who was doing pitifully in the current task compared to his sisters. Both of his older sisters carried at least two full and large crates of crops, while he was struggling to carry a half empty medium crate. 

“I know, I know, but you gotta buck up, Herb! We’re almost done.” Spinach’s words made Herb sigh with relief.

“Oh good… then we get a break..?” He asked hesitantly, feeling the muscles in his arms start to give out.

The farmer laughed, and immediately his heart sank. “No, silly! We’re then going to sow and water seeds!” 

Yet again, the gardener gulped down the lump in his throat. 

~~~~~~

“Have you ever baked before, Peachie?” Leek asked as he grabbed a scrunchie, tying his hair into a ponytail.

The one being addressed put her finger to her mouth and shrugged. “I don’t think so. But, the first try won’t always be the worst try!” 

“That’s right! Hell, I’m pretty sure most of my experimental bakes were worse than my first ones! And those were fairly recent!” Grabbing a mixing bowl out of a cupboard, he motioned to a drawer on the other side of the kitchen. “Get the whisk, we’re stirring the batter by hand.” 

The two walked around the kitchen grabbing the tools and ingredients needed to bake a batch of cupcakes, setting them down on the counter. Leek grabbed two aprons and threw one to Peach, who caught it with practiced ease, and the two tied their aprons and got ready to work.

The swordsman placed both hands on the counter and leaned against it. “We’re gonna be baking this from scratch, so get ready to get messy!” As he said that, he reached down, pulling out a box of premade cupcake mix.

“Um… that doesn’t look very from scratch.” His daughter said with a giggle. 

Leek put a hand by his mouth as though whispering a secret, despite the two being the only cookies in the room. “Well, this is the shop's brand of mix, it doesn’t count. We’ll do everything else, though!” Peach chuckled again as her father put the cake mix on the table, “It’s time to bake!” 

~~~~~~

Herb found that sowing and watering new crops wasn’t that hard. All he had to do was pull the withered plants out of the ground, which he did with his flora controlling magic, and then plant and water the seeds. Each sibling had their own row of plants, even Birthday Cake volunteered to participate. It surprised the man on how well the little girl was doing, as she plucked the dead with little difficulty before planting. 

He decided to strike up an exchange with her, as their rows were right next to each other. “Why’d you volunteer to join us..?” He asked, getting her attention.

She smiled. “Mrs. Blossom gave the class a project to do! We have to help our families with chores, so I decided I’d do this with y’all!” She explained as she picked another dead crop out of the ground. 

“Awwww, so... you wouldn’t help your dear old siblings on the farm otherwise?” He said with a fake sad tone, making the little girl giggle. 

“Of course I help! I help make the jam and pickled vegetables!” She said confidently, crossing her arms and turning her nose up. 

Herb let out a small chuckle, before standing up from his knees. He used his magic to tear the three following plants out of the ground, before kneeling at the middle hole and planting seeds. Then, he noticed Cake was staring at her. “...What..?” 

“How’d you do that?” She tilted her head and asked, and her brother immediately knew what she was referring to. 

“This..?” He asked anyways, using his plants unnecessarily to pick up the watering can and show her. 

“Yeah! I didn’t know you could use magic, I thought you were an earth cookie like us, not a mage!” Both of them stopped their repetitive works and stood up to talk.

“Well, I am a natural born earth cookie… but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t learn to do this…” 

“But why? Why’d you learn to control plants like that?” 

“I had to. You were only a baby when it happened, so you wouldn’t remember, but... I went missing for a few years-“ 

“You went missing?! Where’d you go?” Birthday interrupted him with panic.

He didn’t mind. “Well… I was twelve when an accident happened on my way back home from school…” He started, tapping his finger to his cheek. “I was taking a nap on the ride, because back then the nearest middle school was really far away… but I slept through my stop at the farm and ended up in the city in the clouds above the hamlet instead.” 

Cake gasped. “What happened next?” 

Herb found her curiosity almost… funny, in a way. “Your sisters and grandpa stayed up all night looking for me and all day asking around town, but nobody could find anything out beyond that I had left the school and disappeared…” He watched the color drain from his little sister's face as he told his tale, now knowing why Pilot refused to let her take a carriage home from school. “Meanwhile in the clouds, I was out of place- I didn't know how to fly at all, and I had to run quickly around so that I didn’t sink through the clouds… I would’ve been doomed if it hadn’t been for one person…” As he spoke, he looked up at the clouds, seeing the city in the distance.  
Then, he was taken back to those memories…

Herb, a then scrawny twelve year old boy, was sitting on the porch of the cloud city’s school for flying cookies. He held his arms and shivered in the cold of the night’s sky, looking around for anyone that could help him, but no townsfolk were awake at that hour of the night. 

He looked up at the stars, and wished for nothing more than to be home in his own bed, with his teenage sisters and the little baby cake. But, felt hope for a moment when he saw a flame in the distance. “Hello..?” He called out as loud as he could muster to the mysterious flame, having difficulty seeing what it truly was. Millennial Tree damn him and his near-sighted eyes… 

The flame in the distance seemed to jump in shock at his voice. It must've not been expecting to hear anything that late at night, and Herb could see it seem to shrink in size. Then, it slowly got closer, and he slowly realized… that the flame was not an it… but a he.

“Gah-!”

“Hey, hey! Don’t be scared!”   
Despite scaring him, the living flame wasn’t scary in the slightest. He looked like another scrawny twelve year old boy like him, only more roughed up. He had bruises on his arms and a bandaid on his cheek, another bandaid laid over the bridge of his nose. And… the flame seemed to be trying to help him.

“Wh-What are you-?” Herb asked shakily. He’d never met a cookie with flames for hair before. 

The kid placed a hand on his cheek, glancing away. “Wow, mean… I’m a cookie, just like you!” 

Herb could beg to disagree, considering the differences between a cookie with leaves for hair and one made of flames. “Okay…” He said quietly, hanging his head low. “What’s your name..?”

The boy smiled. “I don’t exactly have a name, but the people around here call me Pyre.” He said, walking over and sitting next to him on the porch. Herb naturally scooted away, but Pyre couldn’t blame him. “What’s yours?” 

“Herb…”

“What are you doing in the clouds, Herb..? You don’t seem to have wings.” He questioned, waving his arm behind the other’s back to check if there were wings hidden by a veil, which there weren’t. The shy one looked at the other’s back and could see a small pair of Phoenix wings.

“Um… I-I got stuck here… the chariot service messed up…” Herb stuttered out, looking away from Pyre. His red eyes were scary to him, which was surprising if you regarded the color of his oldest sister’s. 

Pyre’s eyes widened. “The chariot service that goes from the hamlet to the cloud city?” He asked, getting a nod back. “You mean, the chariot service that shuts down TOMORROW?” 

“WHAT?!” Herb yelled in panic. “B-but if the chariot service is shutting down, I can’t get back home! I can't stay up here, I don’t know how to fly, I can’t even walk on the clouds without sinking through-! Oh Millennial Tree, and my siblings..! They’re gonna be looking all over for-!”

“Herb! Hey! Snap out of it!” He snapped out of his panicked yelling when Pyre grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “I don’t know what your situation is, but you need to calm down!” The boy stood them both up, and pointed in another direction. “Come with me to me and my family’s place. We’ll figure this all out, Herb.” 

The mentioned boy shuddered, but found no words to object. He only nodded.

“...From that point on, Pyre and his family taught me plant magic. They taught me how to control plants to my will and make them form on me as well. I learnt how to fly, and it’s stuck with me…” The present time Herb finished off, looking down at his amazed sister.

Birthday Cake shook her head and waved her arms, “Wait wait wait- Why plant magic? How did you learn it?! And who was that Pyre kid?!” She questioned quickly.

Herb let out a small chuckle at her questions. “Plant magic because that’s what I had a connection to from working on the farm… learning it is a longer story, and Pyre? Well, Pyre- is Fire Spirit!” He answered, smiling.

The little girl's jaw dropped. “Fire Spirit?! But, Fire’s a god! When you were twelve, he would’ve been- I don’t know, some god age, not twelve like you!” 

The gardener sighed, knowing he couldn’t stall to explain. “That’s what I thought when I found out too... But, apparently, the gods can shapeshift to look any age they want. Apparently they’ll use it to appear more friendly to young kids in need of assistance, and that’s just what Fire did that night…” He explained as well as he could.

“Hmm… but if that’s the case, then why-?” 

“Birthday Cake! Herb! Get back to work, we don’t have much time before we head inside to make preserves!” 

The siblings looked over at Spinach, who’d interrupted Birthday. That’s when they realized that while explaining, they forgot to continue working. “Oh… sorry sis!” Cake apologized, kneeling down to start planting again. Herb sighed, before also kneeling. He’d have to wait till later to finish his story to his little sister.

~~~~~~

A whisk beat against hard dough, attempting to mix it further. Peach was frustratingly trying to pound the dough, while her dad watched her with amusement. 

“We’ve mixed it enough, Peach, it’s time to put it in the cupcake tin!” Leek stopped her, before bending down and getting a cupcake tin out of the cupboard, placing it on the counter. Peach grabbed the bowl of chocolatey, dark dough, and poured the recommended amount into each spot in the tin. After she messily did half, she handed the bowl to her dad to pour the other half. “Isn’t this fun, Peachie?” He asked happily, pouring the mixture far better than she was. 

She nodded. “Yeah!” She said, but flattened her tone a little. “If only someone else in the family could join us for this…” 

Leek picked up the tray full of cupcake dough and placed it in the preheating oven. “It’s not that bad! Baking with more than two people can be a hassle, you should’ve seen me with my sisters!” He said, before looking up and recalling some days from his childhood. “Garlic, Onion and I tried to bake for our grandmother once. It didn’t go so well though, it ended up all salty and garlicky from Onion and Garlic!” He said, giggling as he remembered the annoyed look on his parents’s faces as he and his younger sister laughed at the monstrosity of a baked good they made. 

Peach laughed, shutting the oven and setting the cupcakes to bake. She’d never met her aunts before, but she had seen pictures of them and her dad when they were young, and could imagine how silly that scene must’ve been. “Cooking with the aunts seemed like it’d be fun! Though, I was more talking about our close family.” She said, though her happy expression faltered a little.

Leek stood straight and sighed. “Yeah, I get that.” He crossed his arms and looked into the distance, “But, Plum is busy out in the world, and… it was unfortunate what happened to Jujube.” 

The air suddenly hung tense as Peach tensed up, her heart sinking. “Papa…

...You told me the cause of death was never found.” 

~~~~~~

The plant family’s preserves making process was an efficient, and quite easy, process. Four stood at a long table and worked in time with each other, everyone playing their part. The first cookie in line grabbed vegetables and washed them, the second cookie put the vinegar in, the third shut the jar, and the fourth put the jars on the cart to be put in the containment room.

Currently, Birthday Cake, Herb, Spinach and Carrot stood in lines of what their skills permitted them to do. Birthday cleaned vegetables, Herb got them ready to marinate, Spinach shut the jars, and Carrot stacked them. Together, the family performed the synchronized work and made progress on the preserves.

“So, about Herb getting stuck in the clouds,” Birthday started, only to be interrupted.

“Cake? Who told you about that?” Spinach interrupted her, but didn’t stop working. 

Herb gave a nervous giggle. “Ehehe… I did…” He said quietly, tensing up slightly. 

“Um, anyways, about Herb getting stuck in the clouds,” The youngest started again, “Did y’all know that Herb learnt to fly and control plants while he was up there?” She spilled, not looking at her siblings and instead the vegetables she washed.

“What?!” Carrot yelled, a new diversity to her usual yes or no answers.

The oldest sighed. “Yes, I did. But I only learnt recently about the flight part of that.” Herb glanced at her and then did his best to not look, turning to the jars and focusing on adding vinegar. 

“But if it’s true, then wouldn’t Herb no longer be considered an earth cookie? Shouldn’t he be one of the flying cookies, because the magic ties into his talent mark?” Birthday asked curiously, completely unaware of the tension she was causing between her three older siblings.

The middle daughter glared at her brother. “Eeyup.” 

“Yes, he should be. And that would make him the only flying cookie in the plant family lineage.” Continued the farmer, also glaring at Herb.

The one being glared at tensed up, finishing putting the vinegar in the last jar. He gave a nervous and fake giggle, “Y-yeah, I guess so…” He gulped, seeing Spinach finish her job and then Carrot put the final jar on the cart. “Is… is that going to be a problem..?” 

Before either girls could talk, “No, it shouldn’t be.” The little girl spoke up. “You're still one of us, even if you ain’t the same class of cookie anymore. Why should it matter if you can fly? You’ve always been part of the plant family, always will be.” Birthday Cake said, looking up at her siblings. Only Herb knew who she was speaking the wisdom of- Pilot. He would always teach her about the importance of family as she grew up. 

Silence filled the room as all four cookies went still. Cake was innocently confused as to why, while Herb was in a nervous shock. And nobody could tell what the girls were thinking. 

Suddenly, Spinach stepped to the side and grabbed her brother, pulling him into a hug. “Gah-?!”

“She’s right. Who does it matter to if you were taught magic? It was our fault fer lettin’ you think for even a second that it was a problem.” The oldest sibling said, which cut the tension with a blade. Carrot walked over to and hugged Herb as well, soon followed by Birthday Cake.

And at that moment, Herb realized that the family bonding wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be.

~~~~~~

Leek choked on his own spit as he jerked forward, realizing the mistake in his wording. “I- ah-“ He straightened his posture only to stutter, “I-I meant… I meant it was unfortunate that he died-!” He guiltily lied, but Peach could see right through him.

“Papa-“ She started, stomping forward. “What happened to dad?! What aren’t you telling me?!” Yelling filled the room as she balled her hands into fists at her sides. 

“I-I’m being honest-! I don’t know what-“ 

“There’s something you know that you aren’t telling me! What the hell happened to dad?! Why did you lie to me?!” She cried out, slamming her fists together. 

Leek put his arm in front of his face in a guilty block. He stared at her, wide eyed for a moment, before sighing. “Peach, let me explain-“

“Tell me what happened to dad! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FUCKING FATHER?!” Her voice went shrill and high, a side effect of her naturally high voice. Her dad tensed up and put his arm down, a deep pit in his stomach.

“I had to, okay?!” He started, taking his own step forward. “I had to!” 

“Why?! For what reason?!” 

Leek took a deep breath, though shaky. “I didn’t want to worry you. You were busy learning about magic in the city, I just wanted-“ 

“Wanted me to be desperate and confused as to why you fucking lied?!” Peach interrupted, taking another stomp forward. 

“No! It’d concern you more if you-!” 

SMACK!

The sound of skin slapping skin and Leek head colliding with the cupboard next to it rang out in the kitchen. Peach had stepped forward and slapped him in the cheek, making the unsuspecting cookie slam into the cupboard. “You’re pathetic, Leek.” She hissed, pure venom in her voice. She took her apron off and tossed it across the kitchen, turning around. “I don’t think I want to know why anymore. It’s bad enough to know the one I called papa is a dirty liar.” Looking over her shoulder, she saw the shaking and mortified swordsman. Neither of them dared to say a word as she left the kitchen, soon leaving the building completely. 

Leek stood, or more so leaned against the counter, taking sharp breaths, his eyes wide. It took him several minutes to comprehend what just happened, as he slowly rose a hand to his cheek. It stung with hot impact, but even more so cut a slice through his heart. 

Before he could comprehend what happened, his mind took him back to right what he lied to his daughter about.

~~~~~~

It was summer. Maybe five years before that current day, or before the day Peach moved to the hamlet.   
Leek and General Jujube were resting around, the day before that point being filled with work and training. It was just the two in that dojo in the mountains now, after both of their children had moved away to pursue what they felt were their destinies.  
Back then, Leek was a little agitated by his daughter pursuing magic, but now he was just glad she was happy.

Knock knock!

A knock on the door grabbed the couple’s attention. Leek got out of his spot in the crook of Jujube’s neck to look annoyed in the direction of the front door, “What the hell is someone doing out here in the mountains..?” He questioned. 

“I don’t know…” The taller’s eyebrows furrowed as he got up, the other following close behind. Instead of going straight to the door, the general had the common sense to look around a window and see who it was first.

“Who’s it?” The heir asked from behind him, tilting his head. 

His husband looked concerned for a moment. “It’s… a few people of the bamboo clan.” He looked over his shoulder and said, and Leek’s eyes widened for a moment. Both the jujube and the leek clans had unfinished business with the bamboo clan after the two became connected from the marriage of their leaders, but it didn’t make sense for a couple of its people to just come to them. Did they want peace..? “Dearest, do you have your sword?” 

“Of course I do.” The shorter replied, putting a hand on his weapons sheath and the other on its handle. Jujube grabbed his own weapon by its hilt and held it at his side, glancing back at the window.

“Be calm but on guard, alright?” He got a nod back from his husband, and the pair went to the front door, slowly opening it.

The two bamboo soldiers stood tall and formally, looking up at the taller cookies. Leek’s eyebrows furrowed as he saw their faces, naturally disliking the two right away. Something seemed… off.  
He noticed immediately that both of them had weapons, one holding a pair of sais and the other two pairs of nunchucks. They seemed just as ready for a fight as the leaders were.

“Good day, General, Leek.” The first bamboo soldier spoke, a girl with straw-like golden hair tied into a braid. She was the one who held the pair of sais. 

“Good day, bamboo soldiers.” Jujube exchanged the courtesy, deciding it was in his best interest to be friendly. Leek stood behind him with a glare of stone, arms crossed. “What are you two doing here?” He asked, giving a glance over his shoulder at his husband to remind him to either be friendly or be silent.

“We came here for something, something you two owe to the bamboo clan!” The other soldier, a boy whose hair matched the girls, said up to the two leaders.

The husbands exchanged a glance, before the calmer looked back to the soldiers again. “Yes, we are quite aware that we have debt with the bamboo clan. However, I recall it not being due till winte- hGHK-!” 

“JUJUBE!” 

It all happened in the matter of seconds. The girl wielding sais darted forward and raised her blades before Jujube could even finish talking, stabbing one straight through his heart and the other into his stomach. She tore both weapons out in a flash, crimson bloodstains covering her weapons, her own, and Jujube’s clothing. “You owe us ya lives, you old leaders!” She yelled, and the boy darted for Leek.

The cookie, stilled by the shock of watching his husband get stabbed, only went back to coherency when a nunchuck slammed into his side. The impact was enough to slam him into the wall beside him, before he looked at the bamboo soldier coming for him. In a second, he pulled his sword out, thrusting it into the soldiers head. Not caring for the life he just took, he turned and looked at his husband.

Jujube’s wide and mortified eyes met Leek’s, the life slowly draining from his body. Those eyes told him to run, to get as far as he could.

A body hit the floor,  
And the leader ran like he never had run before.

~~~~~~

Her knuckles turned red as she gripped her staff, almost swearing she could feel it splintering. Peach was angrily making her way back home, maybe for a nap, just any way to not think about what just happened. Why the fuck Leek lie to her? What the hell happened?  
The two thoughts she wanted so desperately to not think about looped in her head as she slowly got closer to her home, still gripping her staff with a burning force.

“Heeeey! Peach!” A raspy voice called out to her, and she immediately groaned. There was no way in hell she wanted to talk to anyone right then. 

“What do you want, Dino?” She hissed, looking down at the teen calling out to her. 

He didn’t seem to notice. “Have you seen Fire Spirit anywhere around?” Dinosour asked, crossing his arms. “I haven’t seen him all day.” 

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t. “No, I haven’t.” She glared down at the teen. “Hey, shouldn’t you be spending today with your family?” 

Dino bit his lip, carefully as to not hurt his lip. “I uh… I don’t… I don’t have one of those.” He muttered, looking away. 

Peach’s jaw dropped for a moment, but she hadn’t a moment to say anything as- “AAAAAAAAAAAAH!”  
Screaming fell closer to the two cookies, and they both looked up at its source. Immediately, the martial artist grabbed the teenager and ducked, just in time for a blaze of red and purple to plummet past them. Dust filled the air as the cloud slammed into the ground, making a ditch in the earth's crust. Peach and Dino coughed, waving their hands to get the dust out of the way so they could see what exactly just plummeted past them…

Two giggling gods sat up, laughing to their heart's content. Moonlight and Fire Spirit looked at each other, before hearing someone clear their throat. The two looked over and saw a stern cookie with her hands on her hips looking down at them. “Uh… hey Peach.” Fire greeted, pretending he wasn’t covered in dirt. 

“What the fuck were you two doing?!” She yelled, making both deities wince.

“Chill, chill, Peach!” Moonlight said, waving her hand is dismissal. “We were just having fun, yknow, throwing ourselves down from the atmosphere.” She giggled a little as she realized how stupid what she said sounded. 

Peach sighed, glancing away, and Dino smiled, glad to finally find the cookie he was looking for.

She couldn’t be mad for long though.

At least there was a happy family she could see that day.


	7. (O) Talent Mark Tales - Chapter 5 Part 1

Warnings: Potential blood, violence

“Come on, Bon, we gotta get these to the library!” 

The orders came from the girl cookie who was carrying a stack of newly ordered books. Most were books of content of whatever she was hyperfixated on at the time, but others were informative about the classes and ranks in the cookie world. “I gotta catch up on the latest book, and then get some study in on the classes.” Peach said to the panda next to her, who was also carrying a smaller stack of books.

Bonbon opened his maw to talk, only to be interrupted by- “PEEAAACH!” Two children. The assistant and owner stopped abruptly, needing to quickly steady themselves to stop from dropping the books. 

Peach looked over her shoulder, “Birthday Cake? Dinosour? Snow Sugar? What are you three doing?” She asked as the three made their way up to her.

“Mrs. Peach, how did you get your talent mark?” The tallest child asked, cupping their hands together sweetly. 

The adult glared down at them. “Are you three trying to get your marks again?” She almost scolded, seeing their faces drop.

“Well, yes-“ Dino started, scratching his head, “But we’re finding out how others got theirs so we have an idea of how to get ours!” He said hopefully, beaming up at her.

“Yeah!” Birthday continued, “We thought that if we knew how others got their marks, we’d figure out how to get ours!” 

The tallest looked down at the three, and then sighed. They seemed so hopeful… “Well, I guess I can tell you guys about how I got my mark while I take these to the library…” She sighed.

A shared “Yay!” Came from the travelers, and Peach turnt to her path again.

She pulled her talent card carefully out of her pocket and read it off.

“Peach Cookie - Magical Weapons Artist”  
Complete with a symbol of a glowing peach.

She sighed dreamily. “It all started when I saw my first sun and moon celebration…”

~~~~~~

It was a hot day on that Sun and Moon celebration. Peach and Plum were both out with their aunt on Jujube’s side, Chanomile Cookie, and she had taken them both to see the celebration. 

“Have you ever wondered if we could do magic like the Millennial Tree, Plum?” The little girl version of Peach asked her twin brother, who shook his head.

“No way! We’re both just earth cookies, our talents are in something to do with strength.” Plum crossed his arms. His sister sighed, looking at the ground. She had never heard a tale of a cookie who was born an earth cookie who’d learnt magic… then again, she didn’t read often at all. 

“Settle down, you two.” Chanomile patted them both on the head, before pointing at the sky. “Look! Millennial Tree is starting to raise the sun!” Both kids looked up, and could see the tall form of the god cookie raising up. Behind him, the sun rose with him, before striking a resting point high in the sky.

Peach watched it with marvel in her eyes. Watching the magic be performed actively in front of her, she knew just one thing.   
She didn’t just wonder if she could do magic. She WANTED to do magic. 

The moment Chanomile returned the twins home, Peach cut the conversation with her dads short, running upstairs to a small study the family had in the upstairs of the dojo. Immediately, she started looking for books about magic, and earth cookies. If she could find just one tale of an earth cookie using magic, then she’d be determined she could learn it herself.

Finding a book about magic and natural born mages, she hit the jackpot. Immediately, she read as much as her attention span would let her, which proved to be a lot when you’re a hyperfocusing little girl. She learnt the information that some natural born mages will believe they are earth cookies before accessing their magical powers. Some are born immediately doing magic, while others learn later. Natural born flying cookies, however, have never been recorded to learn magic. All natural born mages will learn that they have magic by the time they get their talent mark, otherwise, they will forever be considered an earth cookie. There were recordings of earth cookies also discovering they are or becoming flying cookies, by learning only a magic bound to their talent mark and destiny, and that sliver of magic being able to also give them the ability to fly by any means. 

Peach put the book down, realizing she’d learnt what she wanted in the first place. But now, she only had more questions and more to learn. Putting down the book about magic and natural born mages, she grabbed a book about magic and how it was controlled, immediately preparing to learn as much as she could again. 

Scanning through the pages, she learnt more that only motivated her further. Mages come in two different types- those who can simply spawn magic, and those who need a wand. The ones who need wands are typically ones who at first believed they were earth cookies, while the ones who could spawn magic from their soul were the ones who knew they were natural born mages from the beginning. By finding your wand, the mage is bound to it forever, and will lose their magic if the item is stripped from them. If the item is stripped for prolonged periods of time, then the mage will suffer from what is commonly called “Magic Fever,” though scientifically was called… something Peach couldn’t pronounce. 

The young one hyperfocused on reading was interrupted when her dad walked in to tell her that lunch was ready. Jujube asked what she was doing in the library for so many hours, and she ignored him, instead running past him to get to the dining room. Peach was mad that she was interrupted when she was so encapsulated with reading, only to be forced to come down to eat and then would be made to train for several hours. Leek could notice her pissy attitude, but decided it was better to not bother her about it, knowing how she got when she was mad. 

That night, she snuck several more books on magic into her room. Tomorrow, she would try to perform any basic spell she could find to make any basic task easier to do. But, there was a problem. What was she going to use as a wand? Peach certainly wasn’t just summoning magic on her own, but she hadn’t a clue what object she had such a connection with that it could get bound to her soul the way mages wands are. As she looked up from the pages of mage history, she saw one thing at the end of the bed. Her bamboo staff. She wasn’t permitted to use it yet, as she was barely half the size of it, but once she turned a certain age she’d be allowed to use it. Despite never having used it, it was still very important to Peach. It had her name carved into the side, and the couple times she’d used escrimas as makeshift staffs, she knew she’d enjoy it. Her bamboo staff could be her wand! That’s at least what she concluded. Tomorrow, she’d grab it an attempt to use magic with it. 

And that was just what she did. The next morning, all before lunch, she went to a barely used room in the back with her bamboo staff. With her she had a spellbook, and would attempt to do a simple spell. Peach stood in a steadied position and held her staff with two hands, shutting her eyes and pouring all of her focus into casting a spell. She’d never done it before, but… if she could, then it would happen, right?

Just a little bit of magic… just a spark, and she would know she had the power… just… one…

Peach opened her eyes after a few minutes of nothing. There was no glow, no anything, nothing changed. She lowered her staff, disappointed, before lifting her head again. She was a natural at most of what she tried to do, so she’d keep trying till she knew she was a natural at magic too

And she did try. Peach tried for long hours of the day and sometimes at night, for years, even when she became old enough to use her staff for weapons training. She was a natural at using it, like she always was, but… she still didn’t have even a spark of magic. Her family never seemed to notice her determination for magic- either missing the books on magic and mages in her room entirely, or deciding it was probably just another thing she was hyperfixated on. But none of her hyperfixations had lasted for that many years. Peach was determined. She knew magic was part of her destiny. Or… she just desperately wanted it to be. 

On a fall afternoon, the little girl was sitting on a small fishing dock entering a pond. She had her bare feet dipping into the water, and her staff laid on her side, as she looked at her reflection in the steady water. It’d been years since she started wanting to learn magic, and in those years, not a single spark. It’d already started lingering in the back of her mind that, maybe she could never do magic, and she’d always be tempted to just put her books away and give up. Despite that, there was always something that told her to keep going. Was it that childish want to do magic, to perform spectacles like Millennial Tree? Or… was she hesitant to admit she was never meant for spells? 

As she wondered, the little girl picked up her staff again. She held it diagonally and swished the side in the water around, simply enjoying the sight of the water splashing around. For a moment, she considered attempting to cast a spell again, but dismissed the thought. Why bother?

In her focus on her thoughts and the splashes of pondwater, she didn’t notice the other cookie standing before her. “Hello..?” Peach snapped her head up, and she would’ve yelled, if not for the… enchanting softness in the unknown cookies voice. On the other side of the pond, stood another little girl. She wore a short sleeved, long and frilly blue dress, which matched her… almost translucent looking blue hair, which seemed like it flowed like a river. It was all tied together by her crystal blue eyes, and the same crystal blue and coral colored dagger in her grip. “Excuse me, are you okay?” The unknown girl asked, her stance shy and retracted. 

Peach caught herself staring at the unknown cookie. Not that anyone could blame her… the little girl almost looked like she was glowing, like she was a figment of the imagination, or, or… a magical fairy, or some sort of other ethereal being. “Yes, I’m fine…” Peach stopped staring and asked, slowly swishing her staff in the water again. The waterlike girl clutched her dagger close, seeming protective of it as she glanced away… she almost seemed like she was trying to find something to say. “What’s that?” Peach asked, pointing at the girls dagger. 

“Oh, th-this..?” The girl said, pulling her dagger away from her chest. When she got a nod, she seemed to only grip it tighter. “It’s… it’s my wand. I’m a mage…” She mumbled, and the martial artist gasped.

“You’re a mage? That’s really cool!” Peach yelled happily, and the other girl seemed to give a small smile. Slowly, the other child took a step forward, “Wait! You’re gonna fall into the-!” She was stopped when the mage simply… stood. On the pond’s surface. “Pond..?” 

Without saying a word, and Peach being too confused to find any, the girl continued walking across the pond, until she found her place sitting next to her fellow little girl at the dock. “What’s your name?” The girl asked.

“P...Peach Cookie…” She answered through shock.

“Peach… that’s a nice name. You can call me… Coral.” Coral replied, looking down. She looked back up at Peach in a moment, looking into her eyes. The deep blue eyes of the mage cookie seemed intense. “Peach. I can tell you can sense my magic. Which is why I need you to listen.” Before the martial artist could reply, Coral leaned closer. “Bring your staff with you to the meeting tomorrow. You’re going to need it.” When she finished sharply, she raised her blade high, the magical aura coming from it.

Peach was scared, but had many questions. “Wait! What do you mean? Why will I need it?! What are you?! How do you-?!” Before her questions could be finished or answered, Coral was enveloped by a blue magical seal. And in a second, she was gone, only the puddle left by her flowing hair remaining to sink through the boards of the dock. “Coral..?” She asked hesitantly. She’d never seen a mage teleport before… 

But… that little girl, Coral… she warned Peach about the future. She told her to bring her staff to the meeting tomorrow… yeah, her dads’s meeting at the old church with a couple of cookies they were affiliated with. Why would she need her staff there? The cookies at the meeting weren’t anyone dangerous, and they certainly weren’t planning to hurt a couple of kids. Peach looked to the staff in her hand and then put it in the other, holding the length of it properly with both hands. She looked across the striped pattern of it as she pondered Coral for a second… what was she? What was her unnatural magical aura? Why could she walk on water? 

As she stood up on the dock, picking up her staff with her, she knew what she’d need to do tomorrow. But was if foolish of her to trust Coral?

The next day, the family of four arrived at the church. They met the cookies, Peach remembering their names to be something along the lines of Tanghulu Cookie and Butternut Cookie, and her fathers left her and Plum to do their own thing as long as they didn’t get into trouble. Neither twin was sure what the meeting was about, and to be fair, neither had a reason to be suspicious- at the time, neither kid knew of the great clan war. They considered talking to the two unknown women’s kids, Lifesaver Cookie and Squash Cookie, but deciding against it. Neither of the other pair of siblings seemed interested in the twins, they seemed more attentive to the discussion happening between their parents than anything else. And so, Peach and Plum were only left with each other. 

Peach had remembered to bring her staff with her- none of her family objected, or maybe they just didn’t notice she had it with her. Either way, she still wasn’t quite sure why Coral had told her to bring it with her. But… there had to be a reason. And that reason she’d find out soon. 

In their boredom during the meeting, they left the chapel of the church and went to a mostly empty classroom. It was presumably a Sunday school teaching room, to teach the religion of the ancient god Yoba most likely, and Peach found it strange. Of course, she didn’t know much about Yoba, but why worship a god when you don’t have proof of them even existing like you would with Millennial Tree? She found it weird, but also never told anyone. She felt it’d be disrespectful, and she hated herself for even thinking about it sometimes.

While she looked at the stacks of unused biblical books and ancient portraits stored for future use, Plum seemed to take an opportunity while they were alone. “Why do you have your staff with you?” He asked, getting Peach’s abandoned attention. 

Peach turned and looked at him, and then realized she had a choice to make. Should she tell him about Coral? Plum was her closest friend, but he was prone to not believing her. She couldn’t blame him, she did make up stories a lot. Or, maybe she could tell him about how she’s trying to learn magic, and not include the Coral part. Yeah, that seemed like a better option...

“Have you ever heard of mages not knowing they’re mages?” She asked, and her twin raised an eyebrow.

“Yes..? I’ve read a few books on magic, but never bothered trying it myself.” 

“Well, that’s what I’m doing! I’m teaching myself magic!” She said with enthusiasm, standing up and pointing her staff to the ceiling.

Plum crossed his arms. “Any luck?” 

“...No…” She sighed sadly and looking down, before gazing back at her twin. “Your binder strap is slipping out.” She pointed out, and he turned to his loose shirt, quickly tucking the falling collar back up. Plum gave her a short nod, their way of thanking each other, and the two saw no way to keep talking.

Peach zoned out, thinking about her brother and their ‘twin language’ as their less stoic dad would call it, when- “Do you hear that?” The more focused of the pair asked. The girl took herself back to reality and attempted to focus on hearing… anything. 

“Yeah… it sounds like two kids talking.” She noted. “Do you think that’s Lifesaver and Squash?” 

Plum put his ear to the wall, listening close. “It sounds like them. But weren’t they paying attention to the meeting in the chapel?” He couldn’t distinguish words from the other two teen’s conversation, but he knew they were talking. 

“...We should probably go back to the chapel, they should be done talking soon…” The other replied, paranoid and fidgeting with her weapon before putting it on her back. Her twin hesitantly got up and joined her, being the first to head to the door.

Click!

The jangling of the doors knob attempting to be turned was futile. The door wasn’t opening. “Hey! Who locked this!?” He yelled angrily, still fumbling with the knob. “We’re in here! We’re stuck!” 

The clinking of keys came from the other side. A low chuckle that the twins recognized followed soon after. “Lifesaver…” Peach muttered under her breath. 

“Yeah. The door is locked, and yeah, it’s me.” Lifesaver said, and Plum felt pressure against the door as the other teen leaned on it. “Squash and I were just taking care of you two while the adults did their business.” 

“Their business? What do you mean?!” The girl stepped up to the door and yelled.

Squash groaned from the other side of the doorway. “What we mean doesn’t matter.” He replied snobbishly. “What you do need to know is that you’re gonna be there for…” He fakely pondered it, “...Quite the long time.” He chuckled.

Lifesaver laughed. “We scored lucky with you two! Just two earth cookies! You can’t use magic to get your way out, and you can’t bust the door down with flight either. Earth cookies are supposed to be strong too, but I’d bet barely even an adult of your kind could break this solid of wood!” She explained with a snarky tone. Then, the twins heard the summoning of magic. Lifesaver was a natural born flying cookie, and Squash was a natural born mage. 

Plum growled at the door as he heard the siblings walk down the hall. Peach joined his side and looked next to him, practically feeling the tension radiate from him. She noticed his muscles loosen up after a moment. Had he gotten an idea? “What?” She asked him. 

Their matching eyes met, and Peach gasped when she realized what his plan was. That was another twin language matter- they knew what the other was thinking about on some occasions. She pulled out her staff and held it between the two of them, and her twin wrapped his hands around the weapon as well. “If one of us can use magic, then we better use it now.” He said the plan out loud, before shutting his eyes. His sister shut her eyes as well, and focused. It would need complete and utter focus to use magic for the first time… 

Neither twin felt or saw as the magical aura’s surrounded them. The orange glow capsuled around Peach, the source of it bursting from her staff, the wand now bound to her soul. Meanwhile, the red magic that came from Plum didn’t need a base to come from. It only surrounded and came from himself. 

The twins couldn’t tell anything was happening until light managed to fill their closed eyes- and they were out of the room. They looked up and saw the familiar hallway, before facing each other happily. “We did it! We used magic!” Peach said with the enthusiasm caked on her words, and Plum opened his mouth to speak with a more toned down version of it.

“Hey!” They soon remembered their original purpose of trying to cast a spell. Looking down the hall, they saw Lifesaver and Squash, who were standing by the entrance to the chapel. Both were braced and ready for action the second the spell was used.

Plum looked at the other pair, before looking at his sister. “Ready to use that magic again?” 

Peach nodded. “Yup!” She cried happily, before whipping around with her staff braced. The magic started to phase onto the end of it, as did the aura start to envelop Plum’s hands.   
Squash pulled his own hands up, his yellow-green magic aura appearing, while Lifesaver chambered herself for flight. Those two were ready to fight, and Peach and Plum were ready to win. 

Peach went for Lifesaver first, while Plum went after Squash. It was soon noticeable that both twins had their own manners of magic- Peach had studied spells and new exactly what to do to fight against flight, while Plum hadn’t known much- but he cast what his soul knew what to cast, and it worked fair enough. Two natural born mages raised to be the strength of earth cookies were a fair challenge. 

As the four siblings fought a battle of magic and wings together, soon the door to the chapel opened, and out stepped all of their parents. “-Thank you both again for coming. We’ve been meaning to make this deal with you both for a long-“ Tanghulu was in the middle of talking when she looked over and saw the scene in the church hallway. A bunch of teens at each other’s throats, scratched up, and auras of magic all around.

“What in the cookie kingdom are you four doing?” Butternut said in place of her wife, and all four kids stopped in place. Peach slowly lowered Lifesaver from the magical veil she’d put around the flying cookie, as did Plum step away from Squash. All four reeled back into positions of embarrassment, frightened by whatever reaction their two mothers or two fathers would have. 

Lifesaver sighed, looking away from Butternut’s glare. “I’m sorry momma.” She said. “Squash and I got carried away with one of our story games again.” She explained sadly, and Squash nodded, more willing to own up to their mistake than his sister. 

Tanghulu sighed, stepping forward. “Alright, what kind of story did you make these two twins here think would happen this time?” The adult mage said, quickly using her pink colored magic to summon both of her children to her.

“They made us think you were going to hurt us and our dads.” Plum answered for them, in slight disbelief that what just happened was all because of a game or story. 

Butternut looked over at Leek and Jujube, who were standing in shock the whole time. “I’m so sorry, sirs. Our kids tend to get a little caught up in their games.” 

Jujube snapped out of it and shook his head, while Leek went from a confused expression to an icy cold glare that shot straight through his twin kids. “It’s not a problem, Mrs. Butternut. Our kids tend to get a little caught up to-“ He said, before also shooting a cold glare at the twins. They both went closer to each other, giving awkward smiles at their dads.

Tanghulu and her kids joined Butternut, standing as a family, before the grown mage looked at the twins. “I’m surprised though. I didn’t know you had a couple of twin mages. I hear they contain some of the most powerful dual magic of all.” 

Leek bit his lip, not looking away from Peach and Plum. “We didn’t know either.” He hissed coldly, and Jujube stopped glaring, putting a hand on his husbands shoulder to get him to stop glaring too. 

“We didn’t know either-“ He started, and the twins looked fearfully at each other. “-But, I’m very proud of both of them for discovering that they can do that.” 

Peach and Plum smiled at each other. “We know magic!” They yelled, Plum finally matching his sisters joy. They smacked their hands together in a high five, before- both of their aura’s started glowing again. The girl’s staff started glowing in her grip, and the boy’s hands were veiled in red magic. Before anyone could say anything, their corresponding colors of pure magic floated and spiraled around them, before slamming into their bodies.

They both looked at each other with a glow in their eyes. “Our talent cards..!” Peach smiled, before letting go of her brother’s hand and digging through her pocket. Plum did the same, and they both pulled out their cards.

‘Peach Cookie - Magical Weapons Artist’  
‘Plum Cookie - Magical Martial Artist’ 

~~~~~~

“And that’s how my brother and I got our talent marks!” Setting down the books she carried on the table, Peach turned to the kids she’d told the story to. 

Birthday Cake, Dinosour and Snow Sugar all glanced at each other, taking in all that they’d learnt. “So…” The boy started, “Cookies can get their marks at the same time?” 

“Mmhm!” She nodded, picking up a book labeled ‘Advanced Spells From Olden Mages.’ “It’s only ever happened in twins, but it’s very possible!” 

The true talent travelers walked away from Peach to talk among themselves. “All I could get from that was that cookies can get their marks at the same time…” Birthday sighed, holding her arm. 

Snow nodded in return. “Yeah… and also, she got her mark by getting her true desire, to use magic… do you think that’s the same for everyone..?” 

The boy suddenly got an idea. “I know! We can write down what we learn when we know it!” He said, and reached into his pocket. His fellow travelers seemed excited, before seeing what he pulled out.

“Is that… a notepad made of… dried leaves..?” Dino nodded when the earth cookie asked her question.

“Yup! I made it myself!” He smiled, and the other two glanced at each other. 

Snow Sugar reached into their pocket and pulled out a decorated notepad and pen. “Please, use this… I got it from Knight’s work room.” The winged cookie took the items and stuffed his leaf pad into his pocket again, wondering why Snow wouldn’t let him use the leaf pad.

He looked down at the paper for a second, before glancing up at the taller teen. “Can you uh… write it down for me..?” 

Sugar sighed, taking the pad and pen again. Dino either had terrible handwriting, or just couldn’t write. “Cookies can get their marks at the same time-“ They mumbled as they wrote, before lowering the items. “Who’s next..?”

“We can go to the-“

“Armory!” Birthday interrupted Dino, “We can go to the armory, find out how Knight got ‘is mark.” 

“Knight..? But isn’t the party place closer..?” Quietly asked the young mage.

“Well, uh…” Birthday rubbed her arm, “The day I met you two, I visited Mr. Leek so he could help me get my mark, but… when I asked him about his, he started- freaking out! I don’t know why!”

The other travelers opened their mouths to talk, when- “Excuse me,” Peach walked over, “I need to get to reading. Can you go talk about your marks elsewhere?” She said, a book tucked neatly under her arm.

“Sorry Ms. Peach..!” Snow apologized, before grabbing their nearest friend, and heading off to the door, the last traveler following close behind. “The armory it is…”

~~~~~~

“You three want to know how I got my talent mark?”

Knight was busy, focusing on finishing touches for a suit of armor, when the three teens busted into the sewing room with a key from Snow Sugar. 

Birthday nodded. “Yup! We’re learnin’ how others got their marks so we can know how to-!”

She was interrupted when Snow slapped their hand over her mouth. She had forgotten that the other teen wasn’t supposed to be on the hunt for their mark. “We want to know how you got your mark.” They finished for the earth cookie, attempting to not seem suspicious.

Knight glanced away, biting his lip. “I’m not sure it’s an appropriate story to tell you three…” 

Dino crossed his arms. “We’re teenagers, Knight.” 

Knight sighed. Admittedly, he was often saddened that his younger sibling had to grow up. “Come on, tell us the tale, please?” Birthday asked, cupping her hands together. 

The adult turned back to his work, grabbing a thread and needle. “Alright… but don’t say I didn’t warn you three.” He took a deep breath, pulling his card out of his pocket with magic. 

Lemon Custard Cookie - Magical Knight 

“Oh where to begin… It all started when I was sixteen, I was finally getting out of guard training…” 

~~~~~~

The scenes in the past became clear as Knight told his own story. “Back then, being a natural born mage and wanting to be a warrior wasn’t a good combination. Magic was forbidden in battle due to it being believed to be uncontrollable back then, so mages were typically restricted from even testing to join training. That’s why I had to lie- about quite a lot of things.” 

Knight, then only known as Lemon Custard Cookie, was a small boy when he first tested to join training. Back then in the kingdom, there wasn’t an age requirement to join the guard. Only a skill requirement, which the young him was determined to meet. The problem came with magic, and the many problems that came with having mana bound to your soul. Lemon Custard was one of the mages who could do magic since they were a baby- a stressful ordeal for his poor old mother Lemon Tart Cookie- and also a stressful ordeal for the young man trying to test for the guard. Everyone knew about magic fever- the awful effect that gave the feeling that your energy drained out of you while separated from your magic wand. But what wasn’t as common was a case of the Mana Spikes.

“The Mana Spikes were my worst enemy back then-“ Knight sighed, “During testing and training hours, I wasn’t able to use magic in fear of getting kicked out. That resulted in the magic inside me getting built up- when it builds up enough, that’s when the Mana Spikes start.” The warrior remembered clearly the first time it happened. The young him, only donned in the guard’s training bronze armor, had just gotten back home from a satisfactory day of training. He was going to the kitchen because he could smell that his mother was baking something, when he noticed from the corner of his eye… a small decorative statue was floating on its own..? It was surrounded in a veil of familiar blue magic, and he gripped his lance assuming it was baby Snow Sugar’s magic being uncontrollable as it usually was… when he found that after getting ready to use his lance, the magic dissipated. 

Lemon Custard held his staff in front of himself and examined it carefully. Was that… his magic? It was sky blue, not the baby’s shade of icy blue, and his mother’s magic wasn’t blue. He looked over at the crib in the room, finding that Sugar was fast asleep in it. His heart dropped when he realized the magic had to be his own. “Mom..?” He called out, stepping through the doorway to the kitchen.

“Yes, Custard?” Lemon Tart asked, not looking away from her baking task at hand. When the addressed one looked up at his mother, he saw that she was, in fact, using magic- magic, which was an aura of a golden yellow. That was something he envied about his mom- not the color of her magic, but how she controlled it. Unlike him, his mother’s powers weren’t bound to a wand, she summoned it freely from her hands. 

He walked slowly into the kitchen, putting his lance back around his belt. “Have you… ever had a case where your magic uh… used… itself..?” 

The moment the words were out, Tart stopped in her place. “Oh no.” She squeaked, and with her stopped her magic, the recipe book and spoon she held with it dropping from their veils onto the floor and into the bowl it stirred. “Darling, when was the last time you used your magic purposely?” She asked, quickly reactivating her powers to pick up the cookbook. 

Custard was confused. “This morning..? Before I left for training?” 

Tart sighed, leaning against the counter. “Oh Custard, you’ve got a case of the mana spikes. Don’t worry too hard, happens to every mage, your uncle Lemon Parfait had it when we were young.” 

“Mana spikes? What are mana spikes?” The young man tilted his head and asked, continuing into the kitchen. 

“It’s when your magic starts using itself-“ She explained, turning back to her baking area. “It happens when your magic gets built up inside you. If it isn’t released, it’ll start escaping on its own. It’s why many mages use their magic for little everyday things, like opening and closing doors or cooking. They’re small, but effective, ways of releasing magic.” 

“But- but I’m in training all day. I can’t use my magic there!” Custard panicked, quickly gripping his weapon as though his magic was gonna go awry any second now. 

“Did it happen while you were at practice?” Tart asked, and her son shook his head.

“No… I had my lance in front of me the whole time, I would notice if my magic turned on.” 

She turned around and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Use your magic for little things in the morning and when you get home or on your way home. It should keep it from building up long enough for you to train.” 

A nod, followed by a sigh. “I wish being a knight and a mage wasn’t so hard…” He said sadly. 

“One day mages will be freely allowed to be guards. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the one to change that.” She smiled over at him, before turning back to the counter. “Would you like to help me bake? It’s a good release of magic.” As though on cue, she levitated a whisk to herself with her golden magic. The teenager nodded, before activating his own blue magic.

“And that’s how it was for a year or a few-“ The present day warrior said, “I used magic morning and night, and the spikes never happened during training. The problems became more prominent when it came time for me to be barely alone at all.” 

“I need to move away-?!” He remembered the younger version of himself’s panic.

“It was expected for those joining the royal guard to move out to the central cookie kingdom, just outside the village surrounding the grand castle. All new and old guards lived in the barracks together, which meant nobody would be alone for long.” Knight narrated his past again, “It was likely something I’d missed in my excitement when I first started. Admittedly, I wasn’t good at spying small details- something that was either a get better at it in war or a get killed by my own foolish mistakes by missing something important.” 

He remembered the exact group of new warriors he was with. The group he’d trained with up to that point was small, so they were shoved in with the next group up, which had also been small. Custard’s group included him, Pistachio Cookie, White Choco Cookie, and Mala Sauce Cookie, which he was younger than all of the girls by quite the long shot. The group those four were shoved in with included Purple Yam Cookie, Raspberry Mousse Cookie, Peanut Butter Cookie, and the healer Milk Cookie, who were all quite the lot older than Custard, but pretty closely tied in age with the others. It was almost embarrassing to be the youngest of the group by such a landslide, as well as the only one lacking a talent mark. “I’d just figured I’d have a blank card forever considering it hadn’t appeared in training.” Knight said while telling his tale, watching the three teens’s faces go distraught. 

“Wait… CAN cookies have blank cards… forever-?” Dino asked hesitantly, the two other cookies beside him looking between themselves. 

“I don’t think so…” The adult thought out loud, “I’ve never met someone who had a blank card and a full grown adult. It can take someone a while to get one, but never is impossible.” 

Snow Sugar nodded slowly. “Okay… so… we might just be late bloomers..?” 

“That’s more embarrassing than not getting our marks at all!” Birthday Cake cried.

“Now guys, I’m sure you’ll get your marks sooner or later. Let me finish telling my story.” Knight said, a slight scold, but got all nods back. He sighed as he got back to his telling of his past.

“I wasn’t sure I’d fit in with the other warriors. In fact, I actually had my doubts they’d like me at all.” 

~~~~~~

Custard was lined up against the wall alongside his fellow warriors, feeling a bit small. He wasn’t the tallest, not even close, but he was closely tied in height to White Choco. What made him feel small was the other warrior’s vigor compared to his own.  
They weren’t bloodthirsty or violent. Well, except for maybe Purple Yam- but they weren’t as nervous as Custard was. They were all battle ready, determined, ready to fight and protect the land. But the youngest… he supposed his thoughts were too preoccupied by his magical difficulties to have room to think about the battles he’d face. 

The next… months? Years? Were full of struggle and torment. Custard had gotten more focused on his battle than his magic in the coming times, but that only meant it was more likely for him to slip up. He had a couple occasions where he’d notice or feel his magic start, but he’d always make it stop in time, admittedly needing to face the pure discomfort of contained magic until he was in privacy again.  
The big ordeal occurred when the knight’s magic was so built up, it burst. 

“Custard, Raspberry Mousse, to the left fields! Pistachio, White Choco, in the front and on guard! Purple Yam, Mala Sauce, on the right! Milk, keep your healing supplies ready!”   
The orders were barked from Hollyberry Cookie, the leader of their group. Quickly, Custard went to the older man’s side, running to their marked location. The group was preparing to face off another attack from the dark army, as it was seen by one of the village royals that there was a crowd coming that way. Custard wasn’t sure how Hollyberry always thought that that group of just six could fight off monsters, but his forgetful little self would always then remember that there were more warriors, like Peanut Butter and her group, waiting inside the village boundaries. Still, he felt a lack of confidence in his group... no. He felt lackluster himself. He didn’t feel good enough compared to the others. And… he felt worried. About his magic. It was always his magic, he always had his damned magic on the mind. So many earth cookies wished they could use powers like that of a mage, but when you’re really a mage, it’s worse than the stories would tell. 

The waves of cake monsters came faster than Custard thought. He looked at the warrior beside him and saw the look of determination and power, and he felt lackluster yet again. But he swallowed his fears and gripped his lance, his focus being blended between fighting with what prowess he had and keeping the magic his weapon contained still trapped, and braced himself for war. 

The battle was rough. It always was, was it not? Custard could never prevent himself from getting hurt and tired, bloodstained by the gore of his enemies and fatigued by all the death he had to see. Even while used to it, it still plagued his eyes to see it. 

But he still fought. And fight he would for as long as he could.   
Until, he felt a charge.   
“Gah-!” The yell of shock was louder than he wanted it to be. Why would a burst of mana need to come in the middle of battle?! And it hadn’t happened in such a long time!  
It was spontaneous to happen, but war had sharpened Custard’s quick thinking. He would always remember something his mother told him right before he left, something she said which was the last he figured he’d hear from her in a long time.

“Custard,” Lemon Tart started, “If you ever feel a strong mana burst, I read something you should try.” She explained, raising her hands into magic. “Teleportation requires strong magic. Use it. Even a small distance, like right next to where you were, can use up all that magic.” Walking up to her son, she gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek. “Do your best out there, alright, Lemon Custard? You’ll be strong, I know you will.” 

Custard nodded. “I will mum. And I’ll be back to visit you as soon as I can.” 

Tart grabbed her son and hugged him, feeling… hesitant. But proud. “Goodbye, sweetie.” 

In that moment, as the fighting young mage’s magic felt to bursting, he used it. Something to help him keep his destiny intact. Something his mother had told him.   
Custard was engulfed in the magic and disappeared into thin air. 

Raspberry Mousse, immediately tense from the scream, turned to where his battle partner was. Or… once was. “Custard?” He asked thin air, quickly needing to thrust his sword forward again to fend off an attack. “C’est impossible… Custard, where are you?!” 

~~~~~~

Such a surge of magic so suddenly was terrifying. The warrior’s only intention was to warp a bit back, so that he could look like he was struck. But after so long of not touching magic, it was a bit uncontrollable. So uncontrollable, in fact, that such a burst knocked him straight unconscious. But that didn’t stop the magic from working, and he was still warped away. A lot away…

“Augh…” A low, fatigued groan came as he slowly awoke. Custard opened his eyes slightly, his vision blurred, as he tried to process what had just happened. Was magic… supposed to knock you out like that. His vision came together again, and the first thing he saw was… a man. Around his age, maybe even younger. 

“Lemon Custard Cookie… wake up…” The cookie above him said, his looks slowly becoming clearer. He had green, leafy hair, slicked back. He had bangs that covered his forehead, but he seemed to have… some sort of radiant glow to him. His eyes shone like jewels. 

Custard felt… absent, for a second. The mysterious cookie above him had just addressed him by full name, and he hadn’t a clue who it was. “...Bloody hell…” He mumbled under his breath as he took a moment to process the scene. “...AH-!” With a yell, he burst up, pulling himself to his feet with the help of his lance. “Who are you?! How do you know my name?!” He yelled, his voice cracking. 

“Calm down. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you.” The grass-like cookie said, and Custard studied him for a moment. He had a bow in his hand and a quiver on his back, and a slight shine to him. Looking down, the knight noticed that the foliage by his feet weren’t dead like the rest around them, but they were full of life. Grown. “My name… cookies just call me Hurricane. And I know everyone.” 

Custard looked between the lively grass and Hurricane. “...You said you were here to help me…” 

“And I am. I’m... here to give you some advice.” Hurricane took a couple steps forward, and reached his hand out. The other was hesitant, but looked up at the green cookie. He was intimidating, yet trustable all the same. The knight took the other’s hand and shook it, suddenly feeling… energy. He felt energized, ready. “You’re a mage. But a knight nonetheless.” 

Custard gasped. “How did you-?” 

“I could tell by your energy.” Hurricane answered an unasked question. “It upsets you that mages must hide that detail to be considered a warrior, does it not?” The mage pulled his hand away, moving it to his lance’s handle.

“...” He was silent. Was the archer… interrogating him? “...Yes. How are you supposed to help that?” 

Hurricane seemed to disregard that question, shutting his eyes. “You contain your magic to keep that detail about yourself hidden. When it finally came to a bursting inside your soul, you tried to teleport and look like you fell back a little.” He opened his eyes again, and he looked… intense. “But instead, I took you to me. I guess our combined powers were a bit too much for you.”

“Our… combined powers? Are you a mage too?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowing. 

“A little more than that. But I took you here because I need to help you.”

“Help me? With what?”

“With getting rid of that strict, sickening rule that plagues you from fulfilling your own destiny.” 

Custard went silent. What was Hurricane getting at? His destiny? What did not being able to use magic have to do with his destiny. “Wait… I’m supposed to… change the rule of the mages being warriors? How?” 

“There will come a battle when things get tense. And during that battle, your magic will burst out again.” The green cookie bolted forward, getting close with the warrior and making him feel… a bit uncomfortable. “Focus on that magic. Everyone will see it, but focus that magic towards helping your team win.”

“Helping us-? How? Won’t I get banned for using magic?” Custard blurted out quickly, his eyes wide. 

“That will all be answered when the time is due. Your team is looking for you, you know.” 

“Looking for- you didn't answer me! How am I supposed to-“ 

“You’ll know. Now it’s time to let the others find you.” 

“Find me-!?”

And then- Custard blacked out again, the last thing he saw being Hurricane snapping his fingers.

~~~~~~

Custard felt… apprehensive. Strange. Was that how he always felt when he first awoke? Or was something… different? Was it the feeling of people’s presences…  
His eyes slowly fluttered open to take in the scene around him. All above him, he saw the concerned faces of other warriors, with the exception of Yam, who looked as mildly pissed off as he always did. “Soldier! Custard, are you hurt?” He could hear Milk ask. Was he hurt? He couldn’t feel a thing.

“Ah… no..?” He muttered, though only half audible. 

“The boy says he’s alright, Milk!” He heard Hollyberry yell, but soon his concentration on his teammates left him. What just happened..? He remembered Hurricane, and passing out, but… he felt like something was missing amidst that…  
He felt tired.

“Custard? Custard?! C’est impos- Milk, he’s out aga-!” 

~~~~~~

“For the weeks after that, I kept what Hurricane said in mind.” The current time Knight said, “To use my magic despite it being unlawful at the time… it seemed foolish, but of course, young me was a fool.” 

The three teens looked anxious. “And?! What happened after that?” Birthday Cake squeaked, “Did you use your magic?”

Knight appeared… regretful. “It was foolish, but I did. There was a higher chance of the outcome being a disaster than what really happened.”

“Well?! Tell us what happened!” Dino pressed, and got a sigh in response.

“It’s difficult to describe, but to the best of my abilities…”

~~~~~~

It was months later when the time arrived. The air was cold and crisp, and every time Lemon Custard’s fingers wrapped around his lance’s handle, he could feel the magic burn from his soul weapon and warm him from the autumn air.

Everyone on the team knew they were in for their biggest fight yet. And that was why he was saving his magical stunt till then. Maybe he was an idiot to execute it, like Yam would call him sometimes. But he felt that time would be best. If he was getting kicked out of the knighthood, he was doing his biggest battle yet in it. 

But Custard knew he’d have multiple challenges in doing such, including but not limited to how he planned to display control. Control was the sole reason mages weren’t permitted in the war, so he was intended to use it and SHOW that he controlled it. The next came from the burst of power he’d get from it, he knew that the strength of it would be enough to knock him black and blue. So when he used that magic, he’d have to use it well- well enough that the rest of the royal guard was able to continue without him. 

“Custard! On your guard!” 

He hadn’t realized he had lost focus until Hollyberry was yelling at him. Custard stopped tossing his helmet in his hands and put it on his head. “Sorry, ma’am!” He yelled, and saluted his leader. She gave him a stern glare, so he grabbed his lance again before running off to the battlefield. He had completely forgotten to go to his place in the fields. 

As he arrived at his place, that time joined by White Choco, she was already prepared. She had her own sword gripped and was simply adjusting her armor, noticing him arrive from the corner of her eye. “Prepared for our biggest battle yet, little man?” 

Custard grimaced at the nickname, but nodded. “I’m ready. Just a little late.” He said, his voice breaking slightly. Fuck his voice apparently not being done with puberty yet. 

“We’re in the front, we’re the first attacked. We head in for the center later with the others, got it?” 

White’s intensity made him fear a little while around her. “Got it!”

May the battle begin.

~~~~~~

The first phase was intense, and shouldn’t have been possible for simply two cookies. Despite all odds, Lemon Custard and White Choco charged into victory… for then. The second phase was when they’d move in and meet the next two to battle alongside them as four, before the entire group united. The two met closer to the kingdom grounds with Milk and Peanut Butter, a pair which Mala accurately referred to as “Those two buff peanut butter cups,” and continued the battle. Custard soon found that, the two he’d never battled alongside, had the most fighting stamina he’d ever seen someone have. He admired that. While Purple Yam fought with rage, and Mala Sauce with spice, Milk and Peanut Butter fought with skill and balance. With the four battling together, and succeeding gracefully with the help of the two older cookies, it was time for the third phase. The one with the entire group, and the strongest they’d face that year. Custard, White, Milk and PB all met up with Purple Yam, Mala Sauce, Pistachio, Raspberry Mousse, and Hollyberry finally participating herself, and all braced for battle. What none of the other warriors knew was that a certain mage among them was ready to do something… reckless. 

Most of them were already tired and fatigued by the final phase, exceptions being Milk and Peanut Butter who held their fair balance, and Pistachio, who didn’t seem tired a bit. Her determination far overpowered her fatigue, and that's what made her one of the strongest warriors Custard felt he would ever meet, past, future, and present. 

And the knight wasn’t tired either. He had too much adrenaline to be. From the fighting, and his plans. He wasn’t sure when he'd do it honestly. But it was that day or never, and he’d need to do it well.

And that time arrived far faster than he had expected. 

The battle was as rough as expected. Even with nine knights all at hand and working their very hardest, it was still not enough. Even the two balanced warriors were starting to fall out- Peanut Butter had lost all strategy and was soon just swinging her battleaxe blindly, almost replicating how Purple Yam would battle. Custard himself had started losing his own charge, slipping under the amount of monsters.

“We’re losing our grip, warriors! Stand strong!” Hollyberry hollered over everyone, and Pistachio glanced back at her.

“There’s too many of them, sarge!” She yelled back, her usually controlled tone going loud. “We need to reel back!”

Several warriors, including Lemon Custard, started closing in. None of them quite knew what to do, and soon Custard backed up into another cookie. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Milk behind him. Not only was Milk one he admired for balance and healing, but the healer was also a friend to all. The young knight swallowed hard, before turning over his shoulder and whispering, “I’m about to do something reckless. Be ready.” 

The healer looked over his shoulder back at the one addressing him. “What?” Was all he could say, as Custard was already walking away from the circle of knights. “Custard, what are you doing?” 

The mage didn’t seem to listen. Custard walked forward, a stoic and flat look on his face. He took deep breaths, truly taking in what was about to happen. The warriors behind him yelled their concerns, or scolds, aimlessly.  
“What does he think he's doing?”  
“Custard, you're going to get hurt!”  
“That little... Crème anglaise, imbécile, arrêtez!”  
He didn’t listen to them. He kept walking forward into the fray, gripping his lance tighter than before. He had to devote his full attention to it if he were to do it right. 

Nobody but him could've expected what was about to happen. As he raised his weapon, his magic-bound wand to the sky, every other cookie watched in awe. And then, the first blaze of pure, flaming mana enveloped the tip of Custard’s lance, and the group all had their own words to say about it.  
“Magic..? A mage?!”  
“There’s another..?”  
“C’est impossible… Un mage dans la garde royale?”

A veil of blue magic wrapped around the other eight warriors. He heard Purple Yam yelling something about getting out of it, but it was firm. Keeping his friends safe was Custard’s first priority. The monsters around him all started rushing forward at the first movement, but the mage stood strong. And he casted his spells.

Despite never practicing fighting magic, he had studied it well. Spell, after spell, cake monsters were knocked around, picked up and thrown at each other. Once the magic started, it wouldn't stop. Blazes of blue, hot magic shot through enemies like bullets, and those unharmed started to run away. He guessed they’d never seen the full potential of a mage in battle. Somehow, on his own, and with months worth of bottled up and pure magic, Custard took down crowds of monsters whether by cold blooded killing or scaring them into retreat. He could’ve sworn he just barely heard White Choco say several vulgarities in french under her breath, but couldn’t quite tell.

After everything, he lowered his lance. His hands were shaking, and suddenly, he felt lightheaded from the surge of magic. Custard breathed deeply, still shaking slightly, as his lance stopped glowing. The other knights were released from the protection spell and started yelling, but he couldn’t hear a thing. As his exhaustion peaked, he said one last thing under his breath as he succumbed to unconsciousness.  
“...Are you… proud of me, mum..?” He asked thin air, before dropping. 

~~~~~~

He felt absent. Custard opened his eyes to find himself already standing. But where was he?  
He was in a familiar place. A home. HIS home.   
But he hadn't been there in years. What was he doing? Before he could ponder it, he heard a voice.  
“Lemon Custard sweetie, I’m in the kitchen. Can you come here?”

“...Mum…” He muttered, pausing briefly. But then, he smiled. “Mum!”  
He ran over and skidded into the kitchen. It was in movement that he realized he was no longer in his armor- no, he was wearing a blue turtleneck and black sweatpants, what his mom would call his signature “cozy clothes.” As he skidded in, he saw familiar, long and blonde hair whip around. He smiled as he was met with a smile belonging to an aging woman, an old mage baker. Lemon Tart Cookie. 

“Welcome home, sweetie. I’ve heard you’ve done a lot since you left.” She said, her voice wispy. She turned fully towards him, and he saw that she was levitating a small present in front of her. “You’ve done something wonderful for mages and knights alike.”

Custard stepped further into the kitchen, walking towards his mother. “You heard..?” He tilted his head and asked, getting a nod. 

“Of course I have darling, and I’m very proud of you. You’ve done a favor for mages and knights everywhere. I even have something for you, as a reward for your achievement.” Tart stopped levitating the box and instead held it carefully. It was a small box, with a ribbon atop. Before Custard could say anything, his mother walked towards him.

He took the box gracefully, looking between it, and his mother. While looking at her, he noticed the world around them start… fading. “...Am I dreaming this, mum?” He asked sadly, and saw her expression lower as well.

“You are, darling… You’re waking up.” She said sorrowfully, before pushing the gift towards him a little more with magic. “Open it up before you leave, at least.” 

Custard looked between the box and Tart again, his eyes widening. “I’m… I’m not ready to leave you again yet, mum-!” 

He was stunned as his mother herself starting fading away as he grew conscious. She looked sorrowfully into her son's eyes, saying one last thing. “I’ll always be proud of you, sweetie.”

“MUM!” He bolted upright as he yelled, his eyes shooting open in reality. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, and he gripped his shirt. It was his uncomfortable grey under armor. 

Custard didn’t get a good look at anything before he heard a voice. Still familiar, and still caring, but not as motherly. “Be careful Custard. You must still be sore from that magic stunt you pulled yesterday.” He glanced over at where the voice came from and saw Milk standing patiently. “How do you feel?” 

As Milk walked over to check on him, the younger knight took deep breaths as he tried to remember the previous day. “Wha… what happened? I don’t remember getting this injured…” 

The healer grabbed a bottle of what Custard assumed to be healing liquid, “You were out cold after using all that magic. I had figured that was going to happen, I’ve seen mages before do just the same.” Milk poured a bit of the liquid into his plastic gloved hand, it glowing blue. “You took a pretty hard fall into the dirt. And after that, some of the monsters that ran away came back to try and win again, but you had done enough that the rest of us were able to go easy.” 

Milk lifted up the other’s shirt, and Custard jolted as the cold liquid was rubbed against his sore stomach. But the knight was less concerned about his stinging body and more concerned about the consequences of the previous day. “Am… am I gonna get kicked out of the royal guard-?” He asked, the devastation of the thought becoming clear in his expression.

The older man shook his head. “No. No, you’re not.” 

“But… but I’m a mage. Mages aren’t allowed in the knighthood. We know this.” 

Milk pulled his hand away, and the knight pulled his shirt back down as the healing liquid took effect and disappeared. “Mages weren’t allowed in the knighthood.”

“...What?”

“You were asleep for a long time. Maybe a day and a half.” The healer explained, grabbing the liquid and walking over to put it on it’s shelf. “During that time, the rest of us had a lot of time to talk about your big stunt. And… well, Hollyberry wants to talk to you in the guild hall later.” 

“Am I… in trouble?” The way he worded it made his concerns sound childish, however they were fully justified.

Letting out a small chuckle, Milk turned around and shook his head. “No, not at all. In fact, I think she has something to give you.” 

“Something to give… me?” The taller nodded. “...When will I be healed enough to go?” 

Custard felt certain parts of his body with his hand as he tried to gauge how he felt. And he felt fine. Milk smiled at his seeming enthusiasm. “You might be ready by a few minutes, but I should go with you to make sure.” 

The younger knight smiled. And then, he pondered. What could Hollyberry have for him? And... What was his dream last night about?  
It seemed he’d have to wait to find out.

~~~~~~

The guild hall was silent as the two knights entered. At the far end of the hall stood Hollyberry, and along the sides of the hall stood the rest of the royal guard. Lemon Custard felt the slightest nervousness despite Milk having reassured him, and the stone cold expressions on the rest of the guard only amplified that feeling. “You wanted to talk to me, Hollyberry?” He asked, and felt the one by his side push him forward a bit. 

“I do. Don’t waste my time, come on!” She yelled, and it became clear to the youngest male why Milk pushed him forward. He nodded upon prompting and started walking down the hall, feeling his friend leave his side. After feeling the rushing glares on him from the other knights, he gulped, picking up the pace. As he reached the end of the guild hall, he looked nervously up at Hollyberry, who still gazed down at him just as intensely as when he entered. “After your magical stunt recently, you knowingly risked your future in the knighthood. You are aware of the rule against mages, right?”

Custard nodded. “I am. My apologies, ma-”

“Let me continue, Custard.” The boy fell silent. “That rule was cast due to the belief from non-mages that magic in battle is uncontrollable, and would do more harm than good.” He fell back a little more into himself as Hollyberry recited the history, feeling attacked and guilty. “After the stunt you pulled, you showed not only control from a mage, but bravery of a knight to act on what you felt would be right. For that, as an old warrior, I admire your valiance.” The woman stood up, walking towards Custard.

He looked hopefully up at her, his blue eyes wide. “I’m… not kicked out of the knighthood..?” He asked, and the leader smiled.

“No, ya ain’t. In fact, you’ve widened the cookies who can join the guard.” 

“Huh?”

“By doing this stunt, you proved even a mage with unpracticed and bursting magic can control it. In which, the rule is nonsensical.” She leaned forward, and Custard could feel the resemblance of his mother as Hollyberry spoke. “You’ve done a favor for mages and knights everywhere.” 

Custard smiled widely. He felt… happy, successful. He felt he had done great. Gracefully, he kneeled, “Thank you, Ms. Hollyberry.” 

“That’s not everything. Come with me.” He raised an eyebrow as he looked up, before standing again. Hollyberry started walking away, and Custard looked behind him. He saw encouraging smiles from the other knights, and he smiled back, seeing Milk giving a small clap. With that, he went to follow their leader. 

He silently followed her again, feeling it wasn't his place to speak at the time. “You still wear bronze armor, the armor given to new knights, and very weak.” She looked over her shoulder, “I think it's time you get your own unique armor, like everyone else.” 

He looked up and got a hopeful glint in his eyes. He rushed forward to stand closer to Hollyberry. “I’m getting my own armor?” He asked hopefully, and she chuckled.

“Not quite your own, but it belonged to one of the oldest knights. It’s forged of white chocolate and boiled milk, and it sure is a pretty thing.” Soon, the two arrived at a door. “Go on in. Get your new armor.” She prompted him, pushing him forward. He glanced between her and the door, his smile not leaving. And then, he headed in.

The door swung open and shut behind him heavily. Custard gasped as he saw the room.  
Armor stands with young and old unused armor were everywhere, but at the opposite end of the room was light yellow armor, made of white chocolate. It had a dark blue cape in the back, and a helmet made of the same chocolate and milk as the body with a fluff of candy floss in the back. Custard ran forward and carefully lifted the helmet off of the stand, examining it. It was dusty, but not degraded or dirty. When he ruffled his hand in the fluff, it was still soft, and not even a bit matted. Carefully, he took all of the armor off the stand, and started removing his own bronze armor. 

The knights in the hall stood patiently, exchanging mutters and smiles. With the exception of White Choco, who had her arms crossed, and was glaring impatiently. She was unsure of the reason for her distaste towards the praise Custard received, but she didn't like it. Pistachio, who stood patiently next to her, noticed. “What’s on your mind?” The taller woman asked.

White groaned. “That prissy garçon doesn't deserve all this praise. All he did was use magic, and it was hardly controlled! That little garce should’ve been kicked right out of ze guard!” She hissed, her fists tightening.

“Calm down. Be glad, we have his full powers on our side now, and any other mages.” Pistachio tried to calm the other woman, but White hissed again.

“It’s not fair! He doesn’t even have his putain de talent mark-!” She was cut off when someone cleared their throat. She looked over and saw Hollyberry standing in the hall, a knight in new, chocolate armor by her side.

“May we all give a congratulation to Lemon Custard Cookie, our first warrior mage in the royal guard.” Hollyberry said, pushing Custard forward. He smiled, as he heard the knights say overlapping encouragements.

“Thank you, everyone!” He said happily, before gripping his lance. With his magic that was no longer constantly bursting at the seams, he pulled his helmet off in a veil of his soul’s blue. The knight held it in his hand, lowering it to look at it happily. “I finally feel like a real knight, and a true mage… -!” He gasped as he felt a stronger magic. The rest of the room gasped as well as a wisp of magic came from his chest, bolting around him. His eyes widened as it occurred to him what it must've been. 

The burst of blue shot into his side, right where his pocket was. Quickly, he reached into his armor and into his undershirt, stuffing his hand into his pocket. Custard pulled his card out, and as he had barely read anything off of it, he knew what had happened.

Lemon Custard Cookie - Magical Knight

As he looked down at his card, he barely heard as Hollyberry walked up behind him. “Well I’ll be… Well, with a mark like that, a new title could be fitting too.” He lowered his card, looking over his shoulder at her. “What about… we call ya Knight Cookie?”

~~~~~~

“And that's when I got my mark. God, was it a day for the ages…” Knight finished, turning towards the teens as he set his thread and needle down. 

“B...but… why then? You were an adult, why’d it take so long? What happened to get you it then?” Birthday asked wimpily, tilting her head.

Knight chuckled. “It’s because that was when I embraced what I really was. I’m a knight, or- I used to be before retiring- and a mage. I can’t be one without being the other, they're both tied into who I am.” 

Dino put his hand to his chin. “So… to get your talent mark, you need to complete both halves of who you are?” He asked, getting a nod. “Huh…” 

The adult glanced at the clock. “I need to get back to work. Can you three go talk about your marks out of my workroom?”

Snow nodded, and the three left the room. They pulled the notepad and pen out of their pocket, looking between the other two. “So, what do we add now..?”

“Well, it's clear that there's a chance you won't get your mark ‘till you're an adult.” Birthday said, crossing her arms. 

The young mage scratched that down before Dino continued. “And, that if you’re a mage, you need to use magic as part of your destiny alongside your passion.”

As Snow Sugar finished writing that down, they put the notepad and pen away. “Alright… who’s next?”

To be continued in part two.


End file.
